G7 leaders will hold talks on Tuesday with President Volodymyr Zelensky on Ukraine, with US leader Donald Trump saying that “maybe we can do something” after over four years of war sparked by Russia’s full-scale invasion.
– Zelensky will attend a special morning session of the summit in the French spa town of Evian devoted to Ukraine, which will be followed later in the day by a session on Iran to be attended by Arab leaders.
– European leaders hosted by President Emmanuel Macron will be keen to remind Trump of the importance of pushing Russia to accept peace on Kyiv’s terms and not pressure Ukraine to accept concessions to Moscow.
– Zelensky on Monday urged a “decisive and substantive” response from the G7 leaders after the latest wave of Russian strikes that killed at least 11 people and sparked a fire at a landmark Kyiv cathedral.
– He revealed he had proposed a meeting with Russian leader Vladimir Putin at the G7, but that Moscow was “not ready” for it.
– But Trump, who spoke by phone to both Zelensky and Putin, expressed optimism as he arrived at the summit on Monday and said that “maybe we can do something” on Ukraine at the G7.
– “They’re both open to it,” he said. “I had two very good conversations yesterday,” the US president added, without giving further details.