US President Donald Trump meets with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on April 26, 2025 on the sidelines of Pope Francis' funeral in Vatican City, a handout photograph taken and released by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Service in Kiev shows. Photo: VCG

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky cut short his visit and left the Group of Seven summit on Tuesday local time, after having missed the chance to meet and press US President Donald Trump for more weapons and failing to see a joint statement on the Ukraine crisis issued at the meeting amid US pushback. 

Zelensky traveled to the summit hoping to meet one-on-one with the US president to push for stronger sanctions against Russia. However, Trump left the summit early, citing the crisis in the Middle East, and no bilateral meeting or unified G7 statement took place, The Kyiv Independent reported.

Meanwhile, Canada dropped plans for the G7 to issue a joint statement on the Ukraine crisis after the US pushed to weaken the language, according to a Canadian official speaking on the sidelines of the summit. 

The US veto was put forward on the grounds that "the wording was too anti-Russian and could compromise negotiations with Vladimir Putin," the Guardian reported. 

The Guardian report said that Ukrainian diplomats have been left frustrated - and in some cases embittered - at Washington's refusal to make Ukraine a priority, "after Zelensky flew 5,000 miles to the G7 conference in Canada only for the US president to return home the night before the two leaders were due to meet."

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney announced that Ottawa would provide $1.47 billion in new military assistance for Kiev as well as impose new financial sanctions. Although Canada is one of Ukraine's most vocal defenders, its ability to help it is far outweighed by the US, the largest arms supplier to Kiev. Zelensky had said he hoped to talk to Trump about acquiring more weapons, the Reuters report said.

Trump kicked off his time at the G7 summit on Monday by suggesting that Russia should be part of the organization, the AP reported on Tuesday. Trump asserted that it was a "very big mistake" to remove Russia in 2014, a move that precipitated the Russia-Ukraine conflict that broke out in 2022, per the report. 

The Kremlin on Tuesday said it agrees with Trump that Russia "should never have been kicked out of the G8," reported Sky News. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said the current G7 group "has lost practical significance" and "looks pretty useless."

The G7's downplaying of the Russia-Ukraine conflict was primarily driven by the US. This reflects the US' disproportionate influence over the group's agenda compared to other members, Cui Heng, a scholar from the Shanghai-based China National Institute for SCO International Exchange and Judicial Cooperation, told the Global Times on Wednesday.

While European nations have consistently maintained a hardline stance against Russia, Washington's opposition to a joint statement has undermined their efforts - yet another revelation of the fragility in the transatlantic alliance, noted Sun Xiuwen, an associate professor at the Institute for Central Asian Studies at Lanzhou University.

Russia flattened a section of an apartment block in Kiev on Tuesday, its deadliest attack on the Ukrainian capital this year, Reuters reported. 

The almost nine-hour attack saw Moscow's forces launch large numbers of kamikaze attack drones, as well as cruise and ballistic missiles at Ukraine's capital. At least 23 people were killed and 134 others injured according to local authorities, the Kyiv Independent reported. 

Russia's attack is a retaliation for the previous large-scale Ukrainian drone attack "Operation Spiderweb," Cui said. 

The exchange of attacks could undermine the psychological foundation for peace talks, Sun noted.