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11:18 18.06.2026 •
G7 leaders in a working dinner on June 15, 2026
Photo: Getty Images
Kyiv’s allies want the United States to join their strategy of maximal pressure on Russia. It’s not clear if Trump is on board, POLITICO notes.
U.S. President Donald Trump at the G7 summit as he emerges from the Iran crisis and turns his attention back to the Russia-Ukraine war.
Trump was all smiles as he arrived in France a day after his birthday, telling reporters that everything was “nice” before heading into a cordial meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron.
Then, the U.S. president vowed to use his newfound bandwidth to settle the war in Ukraine, which he had previously promised to end within 24 hours of taking office, during the 2024 election campaign.
Behind the scenes, European officials fear that the U.S. president — freed from having to manage the Iran crisis day-to-day — could try to retake control of the Ukraine peace talks, leave them on the sidelines and derail their strategy of putting maximal pressure on Russia and fully supporting Ukraine.
But for Europeans, Trump’s assertion on Monday that he can see a way to “do something” — after taking calls separately from Russia’s Vladimir Putin and Zelenskyy on Sunday — risks seeing them sidelined once again.
On Monday, the French president argued that Europeans now foot the bill for Ukraine’s weapons and have a say.
“The right kind of negotiation is one with Ukraine and Russia sitting around the table, and the Europeans and Americans by their side,” he said in an interview with TF1 channel.
Diverging approaches
Speaking to reporters on Monday, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that boosting financial support to Ukraine should be at the top of the G7 agenda.
“Europe keeps up its unwavering support to Ukraine,” von der Leyen said, noting that the bloc’s €90 billion was covering two-thirds of Kyiv’s financial needs for this year and the next.
“For the remaining third, we need Ukraine’s partners to step up,” she added.
Underscoring Europe’s approach of hugging Ukraine close, von der Leyen also touted the fact that ministers had agreed this week to open formal EU membership negotiations with both Ukraine and Moldova. “Ukraine has delivered, so we have to deliver, too,” she said.
Indeed, having taken over the main burden of supporting Ukraine from the United States, EU leaders are looking to rally the U.S. behind a common negotiating line in any future talks with Russia, according to senior officials who were granted anonymity to discuss confidential summit preparations.
“It’s important that the other G7 countries, in particular the United States… don’t degrade their position toward Ukraine,” an official from Macron’s office told journalists last week.
Talking to Putin
Yet before talks had started in earnest, Trump gave the European side reason to be concerned — starting with a lengthy phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin on his birthday.
“We had a very good conversation yesterday with President Zelenskyy and President Putin, and I see — maybe we can do something there,” Trump said.
Adding to European concerns, Putin’s presidential aide, Yury Ushakov, said that Trump’s appointed negotiators on Ukraine, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, will travel to Moscow in the near future.
The other hot-button issue is who should lead any future talks and what approach they should take. Zelenskyy has insisted in recent meetings with EU leaders that Europe should be at the table, not as a mediator but as an ally with shared interests.
European and Ukrainian officials said ahead of the G7 that they want to get the U.S. onside with a strong common negotiating position — dropping any suggestion that Kyiv should cede territory.
Germany, France and the United Kingdom — a trio known as the “E3” powers — last week took their first tentative steps toward engaging directly with Moscow, sending their envoys to Moscow to speak with Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin.
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