G7 Leaders Push Russia to Negotiate Peace After Trump Meets Zelenskyy and Poutine

At the G7 summit in France, leaders opened discussions focused on ending Russia’s war in Ukraine after U.S. President Donald Trump said he had “very good” conversations with Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Vladimir Poutine.

Africanews reported that “Quelques heures avant le début du sommet du G7,” Russia fired “des centaines de drones et des dizaines de missiles” at Ukraine’s biggest cities, killing 11 people and setting fire to an emblematic religious site.

ABC News

The same Africanews account said Zelenskyy and Poutine had spoken separately by phone with Trump on Sunday, the 80th anniversary of the U.S. leader, and that the exchange suggested Washington had not abandoned diplomatic efforts after Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022.

In Evian-les-Bains, Japan Today said Trump told reporters, “Look, Russia should make a deal,” while adding that “too many young men were dying on the battlefield on both sides.”

At the summit, the Guardian reported that host Emmanuel Macron said he wanted the U.S. to say “we are with you, we will continue to support Ukraine, and we will increase the pressure on Russia to achieve a meaningful negotiation …”

The Guardian also quoted Friedrich Merz expressing hope that “for the first time, a window can open for diplomacy” on ending the war in Ukraine, and said he wanted to discuss it further with Trump.

Africanews

Japan Today reported that Zelenskyy told Reuters that G7 leaders agreed Russia was not winning the war, and that they discussed additional sanctions targeting Russia’s oil exports, its banking sector and its military production.

In the same Japan Today account, Zelenskyy’s Ukrainian public broadcaster Suspilne showed a clip of Zelenskyy saying, “Our teams will be meeting over the course of the next 24 hours at various levels and will continue to meet,” as he said he expected to meet Trump again separately on Tuesday.

Beyond diplomacy, the sources tied the G7 push to immediate battlefield and infrastructure pressure, with SANA saying Ukraine struck the Moscow Oil Refinery in the Kapotnya district using long-range weapons as political calls to end the conflict resurfaced.

SANA said Moscow’s mayor Sergei Sobyanin claimed “25 drones were destroyed over the city” and that one damaged a facility at the refinery with no casualties reported, while the same report said the refinery supplies “more than a third of Moscow’s fuel needs.”

TRT World said G7 leaders agreed to intensify pressure on Russia through sanctions on gas and oil, and quoted a French diplomatic source saying “Leaders decided today to increase the pressure on Russia through sanctions on gas and oil.”

In that same TRT World account, Zelenskyy said the G7 understood “Russia is not winning,” and he urged that “we have to push Putin to end this war,” while also citing priorities including increasing the number of air defence missiles and strengthening pressure on Russia.