“Look, Russia should make a deal,” Donald Trump told reporters at the G7 summit in the French lakeside resort of Evian-les-Bains. Too many young men were dying on the battlefield on both sides, he said. “I’m gonna do whatever I can.”
He spoke after what he called a “very good” meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday. The remarks set off cautious optimism among G7 leaders that a peace deal might be within reach, though there were few details on any concrete step to raise pressure on Moscow.
The mood was a long way from last year, when Zelensky left the Oval Office having been told he had no leverage in talks with Russia. Now, in the fifth year of the war, he and his European allies arrived at Evian arguing that Ukraine’s fortunes had improved, thanks to drone raids deep inside Russia.
Reactions at the summit
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Trump’s stance was cause for cheer. “I found him to be very cooperative, and I also saw him listening very attentively,” Merz told reporters. He said it gave him “a certain degree of optimism” that Europeans and Americans were working together to end the war.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen posted on X that “the tide is turning for Ukraine.” She added: “Russia’s fatigue is openly showing. That’s the time to double down on our support.”
Zelensky told Reuters after the group session that G7 leaders agreed Russia was not winning. They also discussed further sanctions aimed at Russia’s oil exports, its banking sector and its military production. A French diplomat said the leaders committed to giving Kyiv more air defence, a top priority for Zelensky as civilian strikes from Russia increase.
Where Trump held back
Two European diplomats said Trump stayed noncommittal on new US sanctions, which European leaders want. Trump told reporters that Washington could now let waivers on Russian oil lapse, since an interim accord to end the Iran war had calmed markets. He did not address broader punitive measures.
The diplomats described the tone of the meeting as constructive. Zelensky had shown Trump images of the damage from a Russian strike on Kyiv’s Pechersk Lavra monastery the day before. One diplomat said Trump disapproved of the strike. The other said showing the pictures was a good move, “psychologically.”
Zelensky said on Monday he had offered to meet Vladimir Putin at the summit, but a Kremlin aide said the idea did not come up in a call between Trump and Putin.
Iran on the agenda
Trump arrived at the summit with a preliminary deal to end his war with Iran. A working lunch on Tuesday focused on safely reopening the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran largely closed at the end of February. Trump said the strait would be “completely open” on Friday. The interim agreement is meant to open a 60-day window for technical talks on Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium and the lifting of international sanctions.
European allies are uneasy. They fear an inexperienced US negotiating team could fail to secure a robust nuclear agreement or deal with Iran’s ballistic missile programme in the next phase. President Emmanuel Macron said the goal was a “solid, serious agreement that is finalised.” Trump said the deal stated “loud and clear” that Iran would not develop a nuclear weapon, something Iran has long denied seeking to do.
