Trump saw the reason for the conflict in Ukraine in the exclusion of Russia from the G8

Preserving the G8 format with Russia's participation, rather than reducing it to the size of the G7, could have prevented the Ukrainian crisis. This was announced on June 19 by US President Donald Trump.

"We should have saved the G8. There probably would not have been a conflict between Russia and Ukraine if this had been done. But [former US President Barack] Obama did not want to see [Russian leader Vladimir] Putin is there," he said in an interview with the Axios portal.

Trump added that one or two other former heads of state, who were then members of the G8, also spoke in favor of excluding Russia from the summit meetings.

"It used to be the G8, and it would be much better if everything stayed that way," the American leader summed up.

Peaceful conspiracy: Europe will try to disrupt negotiations on Ukraine at the G7

However, Trump may demand that the Europeans and Zelensky compromise with Russia.

During a meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on June 17, Trump also expressed doubt that excluding Russia from the Group of Eight (G8) was a good idea. The American leader added that the G2 meeting was still ahead of him, effectively making it clear that he was considering the possibility of a bilateral format of cooperation between the United States and China.