President Donald Trump and Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky, were supposed to meet on the sidelines of the Group of Seven leaders’ summit in Canada, one day after Trump complained that Russia should never have been removed from the organization.

But Trump’s premature departure from the summit on Monday, citing Israel‘s war with Iran in the Middle East, upended those plans and Zelensky’s latest opportunity to plead his country’s case to the president, proving Zelensky’s challenge is not only Trump himself but his many competing priorities.

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During last year’s campaign, Trump promised he would end the Russia-Ukraine war on his first day back in office. Now, nearly 150 days into his second term, a White House official told the Washington Examiner that the president’s primary aim is unchanged.

“He wants to end the war,” the person said.

Yet retaliatory strikes between Israel and Iran are the latest distraction for Trump from the Russia-Ukraine war, as he increasingly distances himself from the conflict, since a political win of a ceasefire is not in sight.

And even earlier Monday, Trump bemoaned that Russia, led by President Vladimir Putin, wasn’t invited to the G7 and called its ouster from the then-G8 group “a mistake.“

For Hudson Institute senior fellow and Keystone Defense Initiative director Rebeccah Heinrichs, Zelensky could have used the scheduled meeting with Trump to underscore how Ukraine is prepared to defend itself as long as it is under attack from Russia, and that Russia will only stop when it cannot financially continue. 

“Ukraine fully recognizes that U.S. support is indispensable for keeping Russia from expanding the war,” Heinrichs told the Washington Examiner. “Ukraine should offer to buy, not take, weapons from American companies, and simply ask for those permissions, and also that the U.S. lead an effort to further sanction Russia. If the U.S. can cut off China’s ability to fund the war, it would dramatically increase the incentive for Putin to talk.” 

American Enterprise Institute senior fellow Dalibor Rohac agreed that Zelensky’s goal should have been to ensure Trump does not prevent or postpone military sales to Ukraine. Rohac, however, contended that Ukraine already pays for some of its weaponry, at least through North Atlantic Treaty Organization ally aid.

“He needs to ensure the continuation [of] U.S. intelligence sharing with Ukraine, for which there is no good substitute at the present time,” Rohac told the Washington Examiner. “President Trump’s G7-G8 comments were predictable and unhelpful, but I am confident that Zelensky has learned how to maneuver around Trump’s rhetorical devices by now.”

Now, the next time the two men are expected to be in the same room is next week for the NATO summit in the Hague, the Netherlands.

There, as it would have been in Canada, Zelensky’s challenge will be great given not only Trump’s foreign policy priorities, but his domestic ones as well.

For example, Trump’s confidence that he can have a productive working relationship with Putin, despite evidence to the contrary, meant the G7 did not release a statement in February marking the third anniversary of the Russia-Ukraine war because the president did not want to refer to Russia as the “aggressor.” Months later, the G7 will not conclude with a leaders’ communique for its annual summit and separate statements on Russia and Ukraine, in addition to Iran and Israel, are reportedly becoming more and more unlikely.

Trump on Monday previewed the prospect that he would not endorse a G7 sanctions package against Russia, telling reporters he is “waiting” to see whether a peace deal is possible between Russia and Ukraine.

“Don’t forget, sanctions cost us a lot of money,” Trump said beside British Prime Minister Keir Starmer. “When I sanction a country, that costs the U.S. a lot of money, a tremendous amount of money. It’s not just, ‘Let’s sign a document.’ You’re talking about billions and billions of dollars. Sanctions are not that easy. It’s not just a one-way street.”

That was also after Trump’s first appearance at the G7 earlier Monday during which the president reiterated his disagreement with the organization’s decision to remove Russia from its ranks in 2014 following its annexation of Crimea.

“The G7 used to be the G8. [Former President] Barack Obama and a person named [former Canadian Prime Minister Justin] Trudeau didn’t want to have Russia in, and I would say that was a mistake because I think you wouldn’t have a war right now if you had Russia in,” Trump told reporters beside Trudeau’s successor Mark Carney. “It was a mistake in that you spend so much time talking about Russia, but he’s no longer at the table, so it makes life more complicated.”

Trudeau, who — like Zelensky — has had a tumultuous relationship with Trump, did not become Canada’s 23rd prime minister until 2015.

Regarding sanctions, the European Commission, led by Ursula von der Leyen, last week proposed dropping the Russian oil price cap to $45 a barrel, a decrease from the current cap of $60, as part of its latest sanction package.

The Russian oil price cap, introduced in December 2022, is intended to reduce the revenue Russia can raise from its energy industry, while retaining its product on the market to counter any price spikes, according to Center for Strategic and International Studies Europe, Russia, and Eurasia Program director Max Bergmann during a pre-summit press briefing.

Atlantic Council Europe Center senior fellow Rachel Rizzo argued during her own think tank’s pre-summit briefing that Europe could act unilaterally, or at least without the U.S. This is because Trump is concerned about consumers in the U.S. and trading partners abroad, including India, as Ukraine seeks an even lower price cap of $30.

Negotiations over an oil price cap were scheduled to come before next week’s talks during the NATO summit. There, member states are poised to pledge to up their defense spending to 3.5% of their respective gross domestic products before they reach the new 5% target set by Trump.

TRUMP LEAVES G7 SUMMIT EARLY TO RETURN TO WHITE HOUSE FOR ‘MANY IMPORTANT MATTERS’

Meanwhile, even without Trump at the G7, Zelensky continues to press allies for more sanctions on Russia.

“I thank everybody in the world who now pushes for the necessary sanctions against Russian oil, and a proper price cap, one that actually hurts the Russian budget,” Zelensky said Sunday. “Without that, Putin will continue to ignore everything the world is doing to bring peace. He doesn’t personally need peace, he himself is the war. Only a real cash shortage can convince Russia to be less dangerous to its neighbors.”