President Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met Tuesday on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Evian-les-Bains, France, as the leaders of the world’s largest economies renew their focus on the war in Ukraine amid hopes the Iran conflict is nearing a conclusion.
Mr. Trump told reporters after the sit-down that the two had a “very good meeting” and that he planned to meet with his Ukrainian counterpart again later in the day.
Asked about the war, Mr. Trump responded, “Russia should make a deal.”
Mr. Trump added that he spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday.
“Russia has lost a tremendous amount of people and so has Ukraine,” Mr. Trump said. “Not since World War II has anything like this happened.
“This was the one I thought was going to be the easiest settled,” Mr. Trump said of the 4½-year war. “There’s a lot of dislike between the two leaders.”
Mr. Zelenskyy wrote on X that he had “substantive meetings” on Tuesday.
He later told Reuters that he pressed Mr. Trump about the U.S. providing Ukraine with missiles to bolster its air defense against Russian attacks. Mr. Zelenskyy has made securing more air defense capabilities one of his top priorities at the G7 summit.
“This is a big challenge really because the production is not so big as our needs. 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,” the Ukrainian leader told Reuters.
He said the message was received positively by Mr. Trump, adding, “I hope when President Trump is positive, it’s yes.”
Russia is trying to overwhelm Ukraine’s air defenses by launching hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles at a time.
The U.S. is prepared to sign a Memorandum of Understanding with Iran on Friday to bring that conflict to an end. Other leaders of the G7 countries are hoping Iran is in their rearview mirror and they can shift their focus to ending the war in Ukraine.
In addition to his one-on-one with Mr. Trump, the Ukrainian president joined other G7 leaders for a morning working session that lasted about 75 minutes.
The European leaders are using the high-stakes G7 talks to push for a renewed American commitment to supporting Ukraine’s war effort and a diplomatic end to the war.
French President Emmanuel Macron said Monday that Ukraine will be a critical part of this week’s meetings. He stressed that Mr. Trump and the U.S. need to step up and provide more support to the war-torn country.
“Europeans are currently providing almost 100% of the aid to Ukraine,” Mr. Macron said, “It is important that our other G7 partners and, in particular, the United States, continue to do their part — at the very least, not weaken their position toward Ukraine.”
In a statement at the G7 summit on Monday evening, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Antonio Costa noted that the EU’s $104.5 billion loan package to Ukraine covers two-thirds of the country’s financing needs through 2027.
“For the remaining third, we need Ukraine’s partners to step up,” the statement said. “This will be a topic at the summit.”
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