Zelensky at G7 Without Trump Bilateral as Ukraine War Drags On and Carney Warns of 'Global Upheaval'

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is attending the G7 summit in Évian les Bains this week, participating in a dedicated Tuesday working session on peace and security for Ukraine and Europe. Yet Zelensky will not be holding a one on one bilateral meeting with President Trump, a conspicuous absence that reflects how substantially Kyiv's leverage in Washington has diminished since the early years of the Russian invasion. US officials have not offered a public explanation for the lack of a bilateral, but analysts say it signals that the Trump administration views Ukraine as a lower diplomatic priority than the historic Iran deal and the G7's broader economic agenda.

The Russia-Ukraine war continues to rage in eastern Europe, with Russian forces maintaining pressure along multiple sections of the front line and Ukraine continuing to conduct long range drone strikes on Russian infrastructure. The war, now in its fifth year since Russia's full scale invasion in February 2022, has consumed more than $200 billion in Western military and economic aid and shows no sign of ending in the near term. European G7 members, particularly Germany and France, are hoping to use the summit to forge a united front pushing Russia toward negotiations, though Trump's approach to Moscow remains significantly more conciliatory than his European counterparts would prefer.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, who arrived at the G7 after delivering a pointed speech at Trinity College Dublin on Saturday, struck a notably sombre tone. Carney told his Irish audience that both Canada and Ireland, two countries that have historically valued their relationships with the United States deeply, are now experiencing what he described as a global upheaval rather than a smooth transition, and that the post Cold War international order is deteriorating. His remarks, widely covered across European media, set a defiant tone for Canada's engagement at the summit, reflecting Ottawa's ongoing frustration with US tariff policy and its determination to project independent economic and security policies.