US President Donald Trump spoke about his meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the G7 summit in France on 16 June. The American leader described it as a “good conversation”, according to a Radio Free Europe correspondent.
Commenting on Russia’s war against Ukraine, Trump told the press during a meeting with the Emir of Qatar that Russia “must reach an agreement”. He once again highlighted the casualties on both sides and described the conflict as “madness”. The US President reiterated that he had considered this war to be the easiest of all possible conflicts prior to a settlement.
“Russia must reach an agreement. Russia has lost a huge number of people, as has Ukraine. Last month, they lost 35,000 people. Taking both sides together, an average of around 25,000 people are dying every month – mainly soldiers, young, wonderful people,” the US President noted.
The White House chief, who continues to advocate for a diplomatic resolution to the conflict, emphasised that the sides “are simply continuing to lose soldiers”.
“There has been nothing like this since the Second World War. I have resolved eight wars. This one seemed to me to be the easiest to resolve. But a great deal of mutual animosity has built up between the two leaders. And yes, I’ll be meeting him (President Zelenskyy – ed.) again later today,” Trump emphasised.
“The only reason I’m concerned about this is that I don’t want to see 25,000 young people dying every month. Twenty-five thousand people are dying every month. Young people who are just starting their lives. They go to the front line and are blown to pieces by explosions. And Ukraine is also losing a great many people. It’s all simply absurd. So yes, I’ll do everything I can,” the US President added.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy posted a photo on his Telegram channel of a conversation with US President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio on the sidelines of the special G7–Ukraine meeting in Évian, France, on 16 June, adding: “It is always important to coordinate positions.”
The day before, Trump had stated that ending the US conflict with Iran would allow Washington to focus on resolving the Russian-Ukrainian war.
President Zelenskyy had previously stated that he was planning a meeting with US President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the G7 summit in France.
On 14 June, Trump’s birthday, Zelenskyy had a telephone conversation with him, during which, according to him, the two sides “discussed many key issues in considerable detail”.
“I wished President Trump every success, first and foremost in his efforts to bring Russia’s war against Ukraine to an end. I also thanked him for all the support America is providing to Ukraine,” he said.
Prior to this, Bloomberg, citing sources, reported that the leaders of major European countries at the ‘Group of Seven’ (G7) summit in France intended to try to persuade US President Donald Trump to agree to a new approach to negotiations with Russia on ending its war against Ukraine.
Emmanuel Macron, Friedrich Merz and Keir Starmer, as stated in the article, believe that the initiative in the war has now shifted to Ukraine, and this opens a window of opportunity for negotiations with Russia on terms more favourable to Ukraine than before.
On 14 June, the Kremlin reported on a conversation between Russian leader Putin and Trump.
Putin’s aide, Yuri Ushakov, stated in particular that Trump had allegedly expressed a willingness to ‘influence’ partners in Europe and Kyiv to bring about a cessation of hostilities in Ukraine during the G7 summit in Evian. Putin’s aide stated that strikes on ‘civilian targets’ on Russian territory were hindering the settlement of the conflict. The Kremlin representative also reiterated that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy could travel to Moscow for a meeting with Putin.