Trump To Meet With Zelenskyy Again At G7, Calls On Russia To Make A Deal

Évian-les-Bains, FRANCE — President Donald Trump on Tuesday said he plans to meet again with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the G7 summit. The two leaders spoke briefly earlier in the day alongside French President Emmanuel Macron.

White House officials have not shared the details of the first encounter but Trump, ahead of his bilateral with the Emir of Qatar, said it was a “good meeting” and that it was time for Russia to make a deal.

“Russia’s lost tremendous amounts of people, and so has Ukraine,” the president said.

Trump, after arriving in Évian-les-Bains on Monday, vowed to turn his attention back to Ukraine as his administration pushes forward on a deal to end the war in Iran and reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

Zelenskyy has continued to say U.S. involvement remains key to ending the four-year war with Russia, and said he and Trump spoke on Sunday about “ideas that could help bring peace closer.”

The G7 leaders reached a broad agreement Tuesday to increase economic pressure on Russia as they strive to bring an end to Moscow’s war against Ukraine, diplomats and officials told POLITICO. The leaders held a working meeting with the Ukrainian president earlier in the day.

The political agreement, which lacks specifics, would mark a shift for the United States which in recent months has waived some of the sanctions it had in place targeting Russian President Vladimir Putin's oil revenues. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but Trump, during a later bilateral meeting with the president of the United Arab Emirates, appeared to suggest the U.S. could let lapse the waiver on Russian oil sanctions, which will expire on Wednesday. The president didn't provide a timeline, but said the administration could make that move "at some point."

"Soon, we'll be able to do that because the oil is now flowing," Trump said when asked if the U.S. planned to increase sanctions on Russia. "We took sanctions off because obviously we're not looking to impede the oil, but we're in a position to do that soon."

During the bilateral with Qatar’s leader, the president continued to praise the memorandum of understanding with Iran, and said the agreement guarantees that “Iran will never have a nuclear weapon.”

Iran for decades insisted it wouldn’t obtain a nuclear weapon but the country was enriching uranium to a level beyond what would normally be used for civilian purposes.

Trump said that if Iran tried again to obtain a nuclear weapon, the country would “suffer unbelievable consequences.”

“If they do, all hell will rain down on them, and they’re not going to do that,” Trump said.

Trump was also pressed on his relationship with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and whether Israel’s fight against Hezbollah in Lebanon could put the U.S. effort for peace at risk. The president said he’s had a “very effective relationship with Netanyahu, but also urged restraint.

“Now Bibi has to be more responsible with respect to Lebanon,” the president said.