Anand to press G7 in Paris on Russia after Ukraine strike

Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand will press her G7 counterparts for tougher collective action on Russia when the group’s foreign ministers meet in Paris on Monday and Tuesday, Nov. 9 and 10, with Ukraine on the agenda.

The talks come as Ukraine’s winter energy crisis deepens. The EBRD, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, says emergency repairs to the Chornobyl nuclear plant’s protective arch are 500 million euros short, and G7 countries have so far allocated 260 million euros, according to European Pravda.

Anand told reporters in Ottawa on Friday, after meeting Austrian Foreign Minister Beate Meinl-Reisinger, that “I will be raising the need for collective effort with my G7 counterparts,” CBC reported. She also said Russia’s presence at the G20 table in December means the issue “must be raised” there.

CBC reported that the death toll from Monday’s Russian strike on an aid distribution point in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region rose to 53 on Friday. We could not independently confirm that figure; our earlier report carried at least 31 dead. Ukraine’s deputy energy minister said new Russian attacks on energy infrastructure caused power outages in seven regions, CBC said. These claims have not been independently verified.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio leaves this weekend for Paris on his first foreign trip since the U.S. midterm elections, the State Department said Friday, according to The Associated Press. The department said he would use the meeting to “advance American interests in engagements with his G7 counterparts.”

France has signalled the meeting will produce no joint communique, AP reported. Rubio also issued only a chairman’s statement after the G20 foreign ministers’ meeting he hosted in Atlanta last weekend, which included Russia and China and ended without consensus. France has invited Brazil, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Ukraine to some sessions.

A French Foreign Ministry official told European Pravda the final session on Nov. 10 “will be dedicated to supporting Ukraine, with the Ukrainian foreign minister in attendance.” Andrii Sybiha is Ukraine’s foreign minister. The official said Russia is “deliberately attacking energy facilities, critical infrastructure and Ukrainian cities,” aiming for an energy “blackout” by year’s end or during winter. Priorities are air defence, financial aid and energy support, European Pravda said.

A separate conference on Nov. 9, organized by France, Ukraine and the EBRD, will seek more money for the Chornobyl repairs.

For Canada, the meeting follows its own G7 foreign ministers’ session in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont., in November 2025, when Anand announced sanctions on 13 people and 11 entities tied to Russia’s drone program, AP reported at the time. Separately, Prime Minister Mark Carney has targeted a June deal on Canada-EU associate membership, as we reported. Our earlier coverage of the Ukraine talks has more on the diplomacy.

What happens next: the talks run Nov. 9 and 10 in Paris, and U.S.-mediated Russia-Ukraine talks are planned for Abu Dhabi on Nov. 10 and 11, the Kyiv Post reported.

Via CBC, European Pravda and The Associated Press.

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