‘I’m gonna do whatever I can’

US President Donald Trump said yesterday that Russia should make a peace deal with Ukraine, adding that he would do what he could to end the war after a “very good” meeting between President Volodymyr Zelensky and Group of Seven leaders at a summit in France.

Trump arrived at the June 15-17 G7 summit in the lakeside resort of Evian-les-Bains brandishing a preliminary deal to end the conflict with Iran and with a renewed focus on finishing the war in Ukraine.

Zelensky and European leaders sought to impress upon Trump that Ukraine’s fortunes have improved as Kyiv pushes for more support to strengthen its hand in eventual peace talks with Moscow.

Trump cheered the meeting with the Ukrainian leader and other G7 presidents at a closed-door session yesterday.

Ukraine’s presidency also shared images of Zelensky in conversation with Trump and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on the summit’s sidelines, reports Reuters.

“I’m gonna do whatever I can,” Trump told reporters, adding that too many young men were dying on the battlefield on both sides. “Look, Russia should make a deal,” he added. “I settled eight wars. This was the one I thought was going to be the easiest to settle.”

“The key focus is to strengthen air defense for Ukraine and advance diplomacy, to make Russia end its war,” Zelensky posted on X after the meeting. “Peace is needed.”

European diplomats said the tone of the meeting had been constructive. “We now seem to have joint analysis: that Russia is in the defensive now,” one European diplomat said.

The UK is imposing a raft of new sanctions against Russia, including on “shadow” tankers that transport LNG, in a bid to pressure Moscow into halting the war against Ukraine, Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced as the special G7 summit session got underway yesterday.

“Working with our G7 allies, we will continue to increase the pressure on Putin and his circle of collaborators until Russia’s war machine is brought to a halt and peace returns to our continent,” said Starmer.