María Senovilla: ‘G7 support for Ukraine loses momentum as Russia intensifies its offensive in the East’

Reporter and journalist María Senovilla, a contributor to Atalayar, analysed the support expressed by G7 leaders for Ukraine on Onda Madrid's programme ‘De cara al mundo’. She also mentioned the possible annexation of Sumy and Kharkiv to establish a buffer zone. 

For the moment, what does seem clear is that the G7's support for Ukraine, right?

There has been a new show of support for Ukraine by the G7, although it has not been as emphatic as last time. They met in Canada, a meeting that was not easy, as Trump's geopolitical moves are of great concern to the other countries and his aggressive economic policy on tariffs was a major topic at the G7 meeting. There were also leaders who stated that the entrenched situation in Ukraine and its war could not be another open front with Donald Trump. But in the end, it is true that there was a joint statement at the end of the meeting. 

The finance ministers unanimously condemned Russia's war against Ukraine, which they described as ongoing and brutal, and stated that if efforts to achieve a ceasefire fail, they would explore all possible options, including further sanctions against Russia. However, we said that this was a new boost for Ukraine, which, compared to the message issued after the G7 meeting last October, has lost much of its force. At that time, before Trump won the US elections, which is the key point, the G7 summit described the war in Ukraine as an illegal, unjustified act of aggression, clearly not provoked by Ukraine but carried out unilaterally by Russia. 

Now, that message is nowhere near as strong. And that's not all, because US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced at the same time as the G7 conclusions that his country, the United States, would review all aid provided to Ukraine over the last three years, emphasising that possible cases of misappropriation or manipulation of funds would be investigated. These statements undermine Ukraine's image, making direct reference to possible corruption in the aid provided by the United States to Ukraine, and also undermine the image of the army and its president, as is now customary for the Trump administration. 

After Marco Rubio's statements, Zelensky issued a brief statement saying that he had had a fruitful conversation with the commander-in-chief of NATO's special mission in Ukraine, Lieutenant General Curtis Buzzard. Zelensky said that they had discussed the enemy's short-term plans, or in other words, the summer offensive that Putin has already begun on the Eastern Front. In any case, international support, or at least support from that part of the world we call the West, which had been unanimous in favour of Kiev before Trump returned to the White House, is now crumbling. This only serves to strengthen Russia, which is not only at war with Ukraine but could also greatly destabilise the whole of Europe. 

Yes, without a doubt, Putin is the one winning in Donald Trump's policy of discrediting Ukraine. Of course, control must be exhaustive to prevent corruption, but at this point, discrediting Zelensky and Ukraine is not the most appropriate course of action. Furthermore, Putin is threatening to annex part of Sumy-Kharkiv to establish a buffer zone, so to speak. 

What the United States is doing is focusing on Ukraine instead of the aggressor, which is Russia. In his latest statements, released by the Russian news agency TASS, Putin warned that he had taken the decision to create a security zone along the border with Ukraine, which would be a buffer zone. The problem is that he intends to create this buffer zone by invading more Ukrainian territory in Sumy and part of Kharkiv. 

Kiev has already moved troops to Sumy, to the Kupiansk area in Kharkiv, where a greater concentration of Russian troops has been detected. So these are not just words; militarily, Putin has already taken the step, he has already regrouped troops and heavy weaponry in those areas. The assault operations by Russian troops had intensified greatly and this trend continued over the last seven days. 

He has no intention of doing so. I was going to emphasise that, that Russian pressure on several fronts is increasing, right? 

Yes, it is increasing. Putin has no intention of accepting a ceasefire at this point, because he currently sees himself at an advantage on the battlefield and in the combat zone. Nor does he have any intention of ending the war. And no matter how much Trump insists that the Ukrainian president travel around the world extending his hand, there will be no change in the Kremlin's strategy. 

On the contrary, here on the ground, we expect a major Russian offensive in the coming months, focused mainly on eastern Ukraine, but we must not forget the Donbas area, because Russian troops are still advancing. Urban fighting is already taking place in Chasiv Yar, but they are still looming over Konstantinovka and continue to surround the two large cities remaining in the north of the Donbas, controlled by Kiev, which are Kramatorsk and Sloviansk. The Russian troops are getting closer and closer, they are making more and more advances, they are annexing, well, not annexing, they are directly razing the small villages they find in their path to surround these large cities. This scorched earth strategy has been going on for many months now. 

In other words, Russia is not occupying cities now, as it did in 2022. What Russia is doing now is razing them with its artillery, with those mined bombs, with those suicide drones, and when only rubble remains, the infantry moves in. So, what it is doing right now, when we talk about occupying more territory in Ukraine, what we mean is destroying more cities in Ukraine, turning them into rubble to create that buffer zone that it has been signalling for months was its objective. To create a large grey zone of scorched earth separating the two armies, presumably while Russia rearms and launches another special operation, another war, another large-scale invasion, as it has already done in countries such as Chechnya. Because we have already seen this film, history has already told us the story.