The United States has protested the labeling of Russia as the 'aggressor' in a proposed Group of 7 statement commemorating the third anniversary of the large-scale Russian invasion on Ukraine. Several high-ranking officials from the involved nations confirmed this on Thursday.
This U.S. objection follows President Trump's recent comments blaming Ukraine for initiating the conflict, despite the war's actual inception being Russia's assault on Ukraine.
A senior official from one of the Group of 7 nations revealed that the initial draft of the statement was circulated by Canada amongst the other six member countries. The official explained that this first draft maintained the supportive tone towards Ukraine that the allies had adopted subsequent to the country's full-scale invasion in February 2022.
Upon reviewing the initial draft, U.S. representatives erased any phrases that could potentially be perceived as favoring Ukraine. Consequently, the resulting draft was neutral, with no allusions to Russia as the instigator of the combat or Ukraine as the invasion's victim.
Canada was given the responsibility of authoring the draft as the current presidency holder of the Group of 7.
Diplomats are still fine-tuning the language in the draft. Presently, it describes "a devastating war that began with Russia's invasion of Ukraine," but it refrains from using phrases like "Russian aggression" or "aggressors", terms that have been featured in Group of 7 statements since 2022, according to top German and European officials.