U.S. President Donald Trump, France’s President Emmanuel Macron and Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy participate in a working session on the G7 summit in Evian-les-Bains, France, on June 16, 2026.
Thibault Camus | Afp | Getty Pictures
Donald Trump has pledged additional help to Kyiv and urged Moscow to “make a deal” to finish the Ukraine conflict, because the president’s consideration turns to Europe amid hopes the Iran battle is nearing its conclusion.
Trump is assembly with leaders of the rich G7 international locations in Evian, France, on Tuesday, as the usprepares to signal a Memorandum of Understanding with Iran on Friday to deliver the almost four-month conflict to an finish. Talks with representatives of different international locations and economies are additionally scheduled, together with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
The president attended a gathering with G7 leaders plus Zelenskyy on Tuesday morning, which overan by round an hour. The president later held a separate dialog with Zelenskyy and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on the sidelines of the G7 summit.
Talking to reporters forward of a bilateral assembly with the Emir of Qatar on Tuesday, Trump mentioned he had already “had a great assembly” with the Ukrainian chief.
“Russia ought to make a deal,” he informed reporters. “Russia has misplaced super quantities of individuals, and so has Ukraine.”
Trump added that he had spoken with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday, with that dialog masking “the identical factor.”
“This was the [war] I assumed was going to be the simplest settled,” Trump mentioned, however he added that “there’s loads of dislike between the 2 leaders.”
Earlier than returning to the White Home for his second presidential time period, Trump mentioned he would have the ability to resolve the Ukraine conflict in a day.
“We have been centered on Iran, that is going to be within the rearview mirror,” he mentioned on Tuesday as he informed reporters that he would meet Zelenskyy once more in a while within the day.
Labeling the lives misplaced within the Russia-Ukraine conflict “ridiculous,” Trump added: “I’ll do no matter I can.”
Zelenskyy mentioned in a put up on X on Tuesday morning that “substantive conferences” have been underway.
“The schedule for the day is packed,” he mentioned. “The important thing focus is to strengthen air protection for Ukraine and advance diplomacy, to make Russia finish its conflict. Peace is required.”
Trump’s European allies are utilizing the high-stakes G7 talks to push for a renewed American dedication to supporting Ukraine’s conflict effort and for a diplomatic finish to the conflict.
France at present holds the rotating G7 presidency. In a press briefing forward of the summit, which enters its second day on Tuesday and can conclude on Wednesday, Macron mentioned a key focus of the talks could be sustaining help for Ukraine.
“Europeans are at present offering nearly 100% of the help to Ukraine,” he mentioned. “It’s important that our different G7 companions, and specifically the US, proceed to do their half — on the very least, not weaken their place in the direction of Ukraine.”
In an announcement on the G7 summit on Monday night, European Fee President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Antonio Costa famous that the EU’s 90-billion-euro ($104.5 billion) mortgage bundle to Ukraine covers two-thirds of the nation’s financing wants by means of 2027.
“For the remaining third, we want Ukraine’s companions to step up,” they mentioned. “This will likely be a subject at this Summit.”
Tensions between Trump and a number of the summit attendees have grown in current months, with Europe and NATO’s refusal to again the U.S. navy’s operations within the Center East drawing Trump’s ire.
Trump additionally threatened France with big tariffs over Macron’s rejection of a seat on America’s so-called “Board of Peace” on Gaza. Washington has renewed its tariff threats in opposition to France this week, this time over its tech “gross sales tax.”
European attendees appeared to make efforts to reset transatlantic relations in the course of the summit, which concludes on Wednesday.
Macron and French First Girl Brigitte Macron personally greeted Trump, together with different visitors, as he arrived on the occasion on Monday. In the meantime, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz offered Trump with a German World Cup jersey with “Trump 47” on its again earlier than multilateral talks have been closed to the press.
Final yr, the U.S. led talks between Russian and Ukrainian delegations in a bid to deliver the conflict between the 2 nations to an finish.
The talks reached a stalemate after months of diplomacy, with concessions of Ukrainian territory to Russia remaining a sticking level. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio informed reporters final month that no talks have been at present underway.
Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine’s former international minister, informed CNBC’s “Squawk Field Europe” on Tuesday that he didn’t anticipate any main developments in G7 talks when it got here to negotiating peace.
“With Trump, it is all private. When you handle to alter his thoughts or make him take a choice, the system will start to show its wheels to ship,” he mentioned. “Zelenskyy is aware of all of those individuals very effectively, and his method could be very nuanced and differentiated, so I would not anticipate any breakthroughs from this G7 assembly.”
Trump’s relationship with Zelenskyy obtained off to a shaky begin upon his return to the White Home, with a gathering within the Oval Workplace publicly exploding right into a shouting match in early 2025.
Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
In 2014, Russia invaded and annexed Crimea, a peninsula in southern Ukraine. In the identical yr, armed battle erupted in jap Ukraine between authorities forces and Russian-backed separatists.
