Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow is frustrated that Donald Trump appears to be moving away from positions he took after the August Alaska summit with Vladimir Putin. Lavrov argued that Putin had already made concessions on Ukraine, only to now hear calls for Russia to compromise again, while the United States extends Biden-era sanctions, adds new ones, and keeps arming Kyiv through European countries.
His criticism came as a Financial Times report said Trump was impressed at the G7 summit by the scale and effectiveness of Ukraine's deep strikes inside Russia. Over recent weeks, Ukrainian attacks have hit military and infrastructure targets hundreds and even thousands of kilometers from the front, including areas near Moscow, oil refineries, and Siberia, and have nearly paralyzed Russian control in Crimea. Trump also reportedly agreed at the summit to tighten sanctions on Russia's energy sector.
The article says this reflects a broader shift in Washington and Europe, where officials increasingly doubt Russia can achieve its war aims. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said this month that Russia will not reach the objectives it set at the start of the war, and may not even secure the demands it now raises in talks. Ukrainian officials say ties with Trump have improved, with progress on Patriot interceptor missiles and on permission to produce and supply Western weapons, including in Ukraine.
At the same time, Russia is pressing Belarus to play a larger role in the war, according to a Wall Street Journal report. Moscow wants Belarus to serve as a base for expanding operations against Ukraine and possibly NATO states, while Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said Emmanuel Macron warned him against deepening involvement. Belarus has largely avoided direct fighting since 2022, but has sold fuel to Russia, hosts sites used to guide Russian drones, and now has about 2,000 Russian troops on its territory. Volodymyr Zelensky has threatened to strike those sites if they remain in use, while the Kremlin says Russia would stand by Minsk if Belarus were attacked.
