US President Donald Trump is resuming his mediation in Ukraine after the end of the conflict with Iran. The head of the White House stated this during the summit of G7 leaders that opened on June 15 in Evian, France. The G7 meeting will determine what the future role of the United States will be in the Ukrainian settlement. While Russia does not see Europe at the negotiating table, considering it a party to the conflict, European allies are trying to persuade Trump to support their five demands on Moscow, already rejected by the Russian side.
The Ukrainian crisis is becoming the main topic of the summit of G7 leaders in Evian, France, which began on June 15. The tone of the discussion on Monday was immediately set by US President Donald Trump, who answered questions from journalists after a meeting with the host of the summit, President Macron.
“We had a very good conversation with Zelensky and President Putin. And I see that we may be able to do something. I really see this opportunity. I think they are both open to this,” said Donald Trump, noting that he intends to discuss this with partners at the G7 summit.
According to the US President, ending the conflict with Iran will now allow him to focus on the Ukrainian settlement.
Following the first discussions, Reuters, citing an anonymous “French diplomatic source,” reported on June 16 that all summit participants allegedly agreed that the dynamics of the conflict on the battlefield were in favor of Ukraine, and therefore they declared their readiness to support Kyiv and strengthen sanctions against Moscow, especially in the field of energy.
However, the credibility of this information is called into question by President Macron’s admission to the French media that his first conversation with President Trump at the Evian summit on June 15 “was difficult.”
Confirmation that the “Ukrainian dish” on the menu of the G7 summit promises to become not only the main one, but also the most acute one, was the publication of Politico about the alarmist sentiments of the US European allies in connection with Trump’s return to the negotiation process on Ukraine.
According to the publication’s European sources, a telephone conversation between Presidents Trump and Putin on June 14, which lasted almost an hour, caused alarm among European leaders who fear that the US President could negotiate with Russia without the participation of European allies.
As Politico notes, discussing the announced new trip to Moscow of US Presidential Special Envoy Steven Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, in Europe they fear that Washington will prefer a bilateral format of negotiations with Moscow on Ukraine without involving European partners.
“The head of the White House, freed from the daily need to deal with the Iran crisis, may try to regain control of the peace negotiations on Ukraine, leaving the Europeans on the sidelines and derailing their strategy of maximum pressure on Russia and full support for Ukraine,” Politico writes, recalling that the EU intends to finalize the 21st package of sanctions against Russia in the coming weeks.
“However, there is little to indicate that the United States, which has eased energy sanctions against the Russian Federation amid a sharp rise in world energy prices, wants to follow them (the Europeans.— “Kommersant”) example, or even more so to allocate additional funds to support Kyiv’s military efforts,” the publication says.
The diplomatic process on Ukraine initiated by President Trump, even before the pause that arose in it, was trilateral (Moscow-Kyiv-Washington) and took place without the participation of Europeans. This format suited Moscow and Washington, but did not suit Kyiv. Thus, statements from European sources in Politico indicate that the impasse in the negotiation process mediated by the United States was interpreted by them as a sign that restarting the diplomatic process on Ukraine is impossible without the Europeans and Trump will be forced to agree to this.
Confirmation that at the Evian summit the European allies will try to convince Trump to abandon the previous trilateral format of negotiations on Ukraine and expand it to include another side – Europe – was a statement by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.
Having reported that a window for negotiations on Ukraine is now opening and expressing his readiness to discuss this with President Trump, Chancellor Merz recalled that on June 7 he met in London with his colleagues in the Eurotroika, as well as with President Zelensky. “We have formulated five main points that we want to discuss at Evian with President Trump. These could be the first steps of a new diplomatic attempt to move towards peace negotiations between Ukraine, Russia, Europe and the United States,” said Chancellor Merz.
Following the meeting at Downing Street, Macron, Merz, Starmer and Zelensky published a policy statement with five basic conditions for a Ukrainian settlement.
Among them are the provision of security guarantees for Ukraine, including the deployment of multinational forces on its territory, maintaining the freeze of Russian assets until full compensation for damage, and an immediate and complete ceasefire.
The Russian side rejects these demands as obviously unrealistic, and also opposes the involvement of Europe in negotiations on Ukraine, considering it a party to the conflict.
Nevertheless, President Zelensky, who arrived in Evian on Tuesday night, intends to actively join the efforts of Europeans hoping to convince Trump to reconsider his approach to the format of the Ukrainian settlement and its terms, agreed last August at a summit with President Putin in Anchorage. In the video of the meeting with President Macron, who embraces him in a friendly embrace, Zelensky walks with the host of the summit along a park path, speaking to him in English. During the conversation, Macron asks Zelensky how much time he intends to spend at the summit and whether he has agreed on a meeting with Trump. At this moment, the interlocutors switch to a whisper, and it is impossible to distinguish their words.
On the eve of his arrival in Evian, Zelensky made another loud statement about his readiness to negotiate with President Putin, which, however, became the most shocking and fantastic of all his proposals.
Not being the host of the Evian summit and a member of the G7, having only the status of an invited guest of the G7, Zelensky nevertheless invited Vladimir Putin to fly to Evian to talk with all participants of the G7 summit about Ukraine.
“We announced that we are ready to meet with Putin at the G7 summit, because Trump will be there, Macron will be there, that is, the Europeans plus America will be there. This is good, I think this is a very good opportunity for everyone to meet together,” Zelensky said. In addition, referring to his last telephone conversation with Trump, he reported that an agreement had allegedly already been reached on his meeting with the Russian president in the United States. According to Zelensky, “it will be much more difficult for President Putin to refuse this, at least for President Trump,” and if such a refusal follows, then the United States and Europe will need to increase pressure on Russia.
No official confirmation has been made that President Putin is expected to attend the G7 summit or future US talks in Paris and Washington.
As Russian Presidential Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov said on June 16, “of course, there were no official invitations from Kyiv to hold a meeting with Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the G7 summit.” “If Zelensky is ready to speak responsibly and seriously—in fact, the Kyiv regime is well aware of what—then he can always come to Moscow, where he will be received,” added Dmitry Peskov.
