With the Iran conflict moving toward a formal peace agreement, President Donald Trump met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the G7 summit in Evian-les-Bains, France, on Tuesday and pledged renewed attention to ending the Russia-Ukraine war. Trump declared that Iran would soon be “in the rearview mirror” and that Ukraine was now his next foreign policy priority. The meeting produced commitments on air defense support, but the path to a ceasefire with Russia remains deeply uncertain.
Story Highlights
- Trump and Zelenskyy held both a G7 working session and a separate bilateral meeting with Secretary of State Marco Rubio present
- Zelenskyy secured a positive response from Trump on licensing missile production to bolster Ukraine’s air defenses
- Trump said he spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday and called on Russia to “make a deal”
What Happened
President Donald Trump arrived at the G7 summit in Evian-les-Bains, France, on Tuesday carrying the momentum of Sunday’s Iran deal announcement, and shifted his diplomatic focus toward the war in Ukraine. Trump met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in a G7 working session that ran approximately 75 minutes, followed by a separate bilateral meeting on the summit’s sidelines that included U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Speaking to reporters, Trump described the session with Zelenskyy as a “good meeting” and called on Russia to negotiate. “Russia should make a deal,” Trump told reporters. “Russia has lost tremendous amounts of people, and so has Ukraine.” He acknowledged that despite his pre-inauguration claim that he could end the war within 24 hours, the conflict had proved far more difficult to resolve. “The whole thing is ridiculous,” Trump said. “So, yeah, I’m going to do whatever I can.”
Zelenskyy, for his part, described the meetings as “substantive” and told reporters he had pressed Trump on the urgent need for air defense missiles and licenses to allow Ukraine to manufacture them domestically. “The production is in the United States. I raised the topic of licenses. I addressed it to President Trump. We need licenses to produce missiles,” Zelenskyy told Reuters. He said the message was received positively.
Trump confirmed he had spoken by phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday — his 80th birthday — covering “the same thing,” a reference to the drive toward a peace settlement. Both Zelenskyy and Putin had spoken separately with Trump on that day, a signal that Washington has not abandoned its diplomatic efforts despite months of stalled progress.
Host President Emmanuel Macron of France opened the summit with a stated goal of persuading Trump to increase pressure on Russia and sustain support for Ukraine. European allies have grown increasingly concerned that the Iran war has overshadowed the four-year-old conflict in Ukraine, and used the G7 as an opportunity to reassert its importance on the global agenda.
Why It Matters
The Trump-Zelenskyy meeting at the G7 carries significance beyond the immediate exchange of commitments. It represents a potential reorientation of American foreign policy attention from the Middle East back toward Europe, where the security architecture of the entire continent has been under strain since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
For Ukraine, the stakes of securing consistent American support are existential. The U.S. under Trump cut back direct military aid to Kyiv in earlier months of his second term, leaving France and European allies as the primary providers of financial and military assistance. Zelenskyy’s request for air defense missile licenses — rather than just weapons deliveries — signals Ukraine’s desire to build sovereign production capacity and reduce long-term dependence on external supply chains.
The commitment from Trump to remain engaged on Ukraine diplomacy, however tentative, matters because Washington’s leverage over both Moscow and European allies is unmatched. If Trump can channel toward Ukraine the same intense personal involvement he applied to the Iran negotiations, a diplomatic opening may exist. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen noted on Tuesday that Russian forces were showing signs of fatigue and that 2026 represented a different strategic environment than 2025.
Economic and Global Context
Ukraine’s ongoing war has imposed massive costs on the global economy, contributing to elevated energy prices in Europe, disrupted agricultural exports that affect food prices worldwide, and sustained uncertainty that weighs on European investment and growth. The European Union has stepped in as Ukraine’s largest financial backer in the Trump era, but the bloc’s capacity to sustain that role indefinitely is constrained.
The United Kingdom, represented at the G7, announced a new package of 70 sanctions targeting Russia’s so-called shadow fleet — the network of tankers and financial intermediaries that Russia uses to circumvent Western energy sanctions. The sanctions target both the vessels and the financial networks enabling Moscow to fund its military. Britain framed the move as an effort to “choke off Russia’s war effort across multiple fronts.”
Ukraine’s need for air defense capabilities has a direct economic dimension as well. Russian drone and missile attacks have repeatedly struck Ukrainian energy infrastructure, creating civilian hardship, displacing workers, and degrading industrial output. Every successful air defense intercept reduces direct economic damage to the country and supports the viability of continued Ukrainian resistance.
Implications
The practical outcomes of Tuesday’s meeting depend heavily on follow-through. Zelenskyy described Trump’s response to the missile license request as positive, but noted that implementation was what mattered. “I hope when President Trump is positive, it’s yes,” Zelenskyy said — a carefully calibrated expression of cautious optimism that reflects Ukraine’s experience with pledges that took months to materialize.
Trump’s statement that he spoke with Putin on Sunday and will keep pressing for a deal suggests the diplomatic channels between Washington and Moscow remain open. However, the gap between the two sides on territorial concessions, NATO membership, and war crimes accountability is wide. Russia has shown no willingness to accept terms that fall short of significant Ukrainian territorial concessions.
For European allies, the G7 meeting offered a measure of reassurance that Trump has not entirely abandoned Ukraine. But the continent’s defense planners are under no illusions that U.S. attention will remain consistent, particularly as Trump moves into a period dominated by domestic political priorities and the second phase of Iran nuclear negotiations.
