From September 4 to 6, 2025, in Canada’s capital, Ottawa, the 23rd Meeting of the Speakers of the Lower Houses of the G7 took place. The Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, Ruslan Stefanchuk, participated in the meeting.

Bilateral Meetings

Within the framework of the visit, Ruslan Stefanchuk held a series of substantive negotiations with the Speaker of the House of Commons of Canada, François-Philippe Scarpaleggia, the Speaker of the Senate of Canada, Raymonde Gagné, the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, Mike Johnson, the President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, the President of the National Assembly of France, Yaël Braun-Pivet, the President of the Bundestag of the Federal Republic of Germany, Julia Klöckner, the Speaker of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, Sir Lindsay Hoyle, and the President of the Chamber of Deputies of Italy, Lorenzo Fontana.

The main topics of the meetings were:

• strengthening Ukraine’s defense support, including the provision of modern air defense systems, long-range missiles, and the development of joint defense projects;
• sanctions policy against Russia: the need to strengthen restrictions in the energy sector (in particular regarding Russian LNG), the financial sector, the military-industrial complex, and the use of frozen assets for the reconstruction of Ukraine;
• European and Euro-Atlantic integration: confirmation of the invariability of Ukraine’s course toward membership in the EU and NATO as the best guarantees of security;
• the return of Ukrainian children illegally deported by Russia from the temporarily occupied territories;
• the future work of the International Crimea Platform, in particular participation in the Fourth Parliamentary Summit, which will take place in November in Stockholm.

Separately, the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada called on his colleagues to support the initiative of a joint visit of the G7 parliamentary speakers to Kyiv as a powerful signal of unity and solidarity with Ukraine.

 

Speech at the Plenary Session

In his speech at the working session of the Summit, Ruslan Stefanchuk focused on the fight against disinformation and hybrid threats. He emphasized that Russia uses lies, fakes, election interference, and digital attacks as weapons no less dangerous than missiles or drones.
“Russia has lied to the world and to its citizens for decades, and today it does so even more aggressively, using modern technologies. We have already seen how it lies — and this has concerned not only Ukraine. Russia spreads fakes, interferes in the internal affairs of other states through digital platforms, tries to falsify elections, intimidates societies, and justifies its own crimes,” Ruslan Stefanchuk stressed.

 

The final document of the G7 Parliamentary Summit condemned the ongoing Russian aggression against Ukraine and recognized Ukraine’s readiness for a just and lasting peace. The Summit supported the provisions of the Joint Statement of the G7 Foreign Ministers of March 14, 2025, which confirms unwavering support for Ukraine in defending its territorial integrity, right to exist, freedom, sovereignty, and independence.

The parliaments of the G7 countries once again confirmed their commitment to deepening cooperation and strengthening the parliamentary dimension of the G7 with Ukraine.

For Ukraine, participation in this meeting became a powerful signal of solidarity from the world’s leading democracies. The unity of the G7 parliaments with the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine strengthens trust in international law, brings just peace closer, and reinforces our positions in countering Russian aggression.