U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that he will meet privately with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, after the two had already joined the other G7 leaders for a joint session earlier in the day. The bilateral meeting was not part of the summit’s original schedule.
The meeting is taking place after French President Emmanuel Macron told Zelenskyy he would work to arrange such a session. Macron had previously described his early talks with Trump on Ukraine as "difficult."
During the summit, European leaders pressed for an end to the war and are seeking Trump’s backing for a peace deal based on Ukraine’s terms. Trump said, "Russia needs to make a deal. Russia has lost a tremendous number of people, and so has Ukraine."
Trump and Zelenskyy attended the G7 summit in the French town of Evian, where leaders discussed the war in Ukraine and proposals to advance peace talks with Russia.