Volodymyr Zelensky, Donald Trump, and Emmanuel Macron held a roughly 30-minute behind-the-scenes meeting at the G7 summit in Évian on June 16, during which Zelensky showed Trump photographs of Russian strikes on the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra that, according to the Kyiv Independent, visibly moved the US president [8]. The trilateral came after a hot-mic recording captured Macron telling Zelensky that his own meeting with Trump the previous day had been very difficult — a remark captured in a hot-mic recording and reported by Turkish outlet Hurriyet as "çok zorlu" — and offering to personally arrange a Zelensky-Trump bilateral [7]. The summit, hosted by France on the shores of Lake Geneva, followed days of street protests in the area but shifted to substantive leader-to-leader negotiations on Ukraine, the US-Iran deal, and AI governance.
Zelensky stated that G7 partners agreed on air defense support and that Trump responded positively to a Ukrainian proposal to license domestic production of Patriot anti-ballistic systems and interceptor missiles [8][18]. "We talked about both the systems and the missiles," Zelensky told reporters [8]. Ukrainska Pravda reported that G7 leaders were considering granting Ukraine such licenses, a step Kyiv frames as essential for both Ukrainian and broader European defense [22]. Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney announced unilateral sanctions targeting 162 Russian individuals, organizations, and vessels during a bilateral with Zelensky [17], and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer declared a £210 million energy support package for Ukraine alongside further Russia sanctions [6]. Zelensky also met European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President António Costa to discuss opening the next five EU accession negotiation clusters and a financial support package [11].
Trump framed himself as uniquely positioned to end the war. "Теперь, когда с этим покончено, мы займемся этим и посмотрим, удастся ли довести дело до конца — 25 тыс. человек в месяц гибнут, в основном солдаты. Так быть не должно" (Now that this [the Iran deal] is done, we will focus on this [the Russia-Ukraine war] and see if we can get it done — 25,000 people a month are dying, mostly soldiers. This should not be happening), he said, seated beside Macron [9]. A senior US official told Novaya Gazeta Europe that Trump is "единственный человек на планете" (the only person on the planet) who can bring Russia and Ukraine together [9]. Trump told reporters that he had had good conversations with both Zelensky and Putin and believed progress was possible — a statement rendered by German broadcaster Tagesschau as "Ich glaube, da können wir etwas erreichen. Wirklich" (I believe we can achieve something. Really) [10].
Macron positioned France as a bridge between Washington and Kyiv. He stated that "правильные переговоры — это когда Украина и Россия сидят за столом, а европейцы и американцы — рядом" (proper negotiations are when Ukraine and Russia sit at the table with Europeans and Americans beside them) [9]. A source in Macron's entourage told the same outlet that it was important for G7 countries, "в особенности Соединенные Штаты" (especially the United States), not to weaken their position on Ukraine [9]. Le Monde analyzed Macron's diplomatic activism as constrained by domestic political fragilities [20], while a French political outlet described the summit as Macron's attempt to demonstrate that Europe can still carry weight alongside Trump [23].
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz offered the most optimistic assessment, calling the day a "Tag der Hoffnung für die Ukraine" (day of hope for Ukraine) and stating that all G7 partners now agreed Russia cannot win the war militarily [14]. Merz said the G7 would jointly increase pressure on Russia's shadow fleet, oligarchs, and oil industry [14]. He also pledged potential military support for ensuring free passage through the Strait of Hormuz as part of the broader Iran deal framework [13].
Moscow rejected the diplomatic overtures. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov stated that Vladimir Putin had received no official invitation to the G7 and that no official channels exist between Moscow and Kyiv [28]. Putin himself said he "sees no point in meeting with Zelensky" and insisted the Ukrainian president travel to Moscow [8]. Presidential aide Yuri Ushakov accused Europeans and Zelensky of being interested only in "затягивание конфликта и продолжение боевых действий" (prolonging the conflict and continuing hostilities), while selectively citing Trump's emphasis on stopping the fighting [9]. Zelensky responded that he had proposed a meeting with Putin at the G7 with democratic states present, but "Путин этого не хочет" (Putin does not want this), and that a meeting on US territory would be harder for Putin to refuse [9].
Not all G7 participants secured equal access to the summit's central conversations. The Guardian reported that Starmer was excluded from the Zelensky-Trump-Macron trilateral and lacked a scheduled bilateral with Trump [6]. Starmer pushed back, telling reporters: "We've just spent two hours last night sat next to each other, chatting to each other" [6]. Trump, for his part, dismissed Starmer's proposal for a multinational Hormuz Strait force, saying the US would not "need much help" [6]. An unnamed European diplomat told Novaya Gazeta Europe that Trump's earlier distraction from Ukraine "не обязательно плохо" (was not necessarily a bad thing), reflecting an ambivalent posture toward US engagement in the peace process [9].
On the summit's margins, South Korean President Lee Jae-myung had a brief encounter with Trump during a photo session. According to presidential spokesperson Kang Yu-jung, Trump asked about inter-Korean ties, and Lee requested that Trump "spearhead a peaceful resolution of North Korean issues," to which Trump expressed an intention to work toward such a resolution without making a specific commitment [15]. Lee also used the expanded G7 session to advocate for international AI partnerships, stating that technological progress should contribute to "collective growth rather than deepening economic inequalities" [3]. The Hankyoreh reported that Lee framed South Korea's trajectory from aid recipient to donor as a model for development cooperation [27].
Zelensky told Italian wire service ANSA that he expected to meet Trump again the following day, with technical teams convening for further meetings [1]. US envoys are expected to travel to Moscow in the coming period, according to Novaya Gazeta Europe [9]. The G7's final day featured a lunch with AI industry leaders including Sam Altman, Dario Amodei, and Arthur Mensch, alongside discussions on cybersecurity and social media regulation [4].