The Trump White House informed its Group of Seven (G7) allies that it would not support a statement condemning Russia’s recent missile attack on Ukraine, which was the deadliest of the year, purportedly to ‘keep negotiations with Moscow on track.’
Russia launched the attack on Palm Sunday, April 13, striking the northeastern city of Sumy and killing at least 35 people while wounding 119 others. Ukrainian officials said it was one of the deadliest assaults on Sumy since the start of the full-scale invasion in 2022.
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This decision came as discussions between the White House and the Kremlin continue, with diplomatic sources indicating that the Trump administration was working to keep channels open for negotiations.
Canada, which currently holds the G7 presidency, informed allies that the statement could not proceed without US approval, the sources cited by Bloomberg said.
The US Embassy in London declined to comment, and requests for statements from the White House, the US National Security Council, and the Canadian government went unanswered.
The statement was intended to condemn the strike and characterize it as further evidence of Moscow’s intent to continue its war against Ukraine without any ceasefire.
European leaders have denounced the attack as a war crime. President Donald Trump, however, offered a more ambiguous assessment, calling the strike “a horrible thing” but suggesting it may have occurred by “mistake,” without providing further explanation.
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The incident is the latest in a series of US moves that have strained G7 consensus on Russia policy.
The Trump administration previously refused to label Russia as the aggressor in the G7 communique marking the third anniversary of Moscow’s full-scale invasion and vetoed a proposal to establish a task force monitoring Russia’s so-called “shadow fleet” of oil tankers evading sanctions.
The Sumy attack occurred just days after Russian leader Vladimir Putin held nearly five hours of talks in St. Petersburg with Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff.
The White House said Putin, a former career KGB officer, held the lengthy meeting with Witkoff, a former real estate investor with no prior diplomatic experience, to discuss the possibility of a ceasefire in Ukraine.
Witkoff later told Fox News that the discussions offered the potential to “reshape” the Russia-US relationship and that Vladimir Putin was open to a “permanent peace” agreement with Ukraine.
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