Live. G7 summit: Zelenskyy joins leaders to discuss revival of peace talks

Donald Trump, Emmanuel Macron and Volodymyr Zelenskyy have entered the room.

"Good morning, Donald," Ursula von der Leyen told Trump.

After the greeting, the leaders took their seats.

As the other leaders enjoy their small talk, Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Emmanuel Macron are holding a bilateral meeting.

If you're following the AP live transmission, you can perfectly hear the G7 leaders engage in small talk.

António Costa seemed to be retelling old anecdotes, while Giorgia Meloni told one of her fellow leaders: "You've been smoking with me." Can you guess?

Earlier, when Macron greeted Zelenskyy in the garden, we could also hear their interaction. "Tonight, you are free?" Macron asked Zelenskyy.

Credit: Associated Press

Zelenskyy’s talks with the G7 leaders in Evian will be focused on two main points: forcing Russia into direct talks with Kyiv and providing more anti-ballistic air defence for Ukraine. 

French president Emmanuel Macron said he’ll seek to persuade his US counterpart Donald Trump to continue supporting Ukraine and increase pressure on Russia to help reach a peace agreement. 

In an open letter earlier this month, Zelenskyy offered Russian president Vladimir Putin to meet face-to-face to put an end to Moscow’s war, but Putin refused.

Ukraine’s president also suggested to the Russian leader to hold a meeting around the G7 gathering, but the Kremlin hasn’t responded to the proposal. 

"We gave message that we are ready to meet with Putin during (the) G7, because Trump is there and Macron is there, so Europeans plus America. This is a good, I think, very good opportunity to meet all together," Zelenskyy said on Monday in Kyiv. 

Following a phone call with Trump on Sunday, Zelenskyy said he suggested this idea to the US president as well. 

"We discussed with President Trump that such a meeting could be organised in the US in a format that would make it much harder for Putin to refuse, at least to refuse President Trump," he said. 

But so far the Kremlin rejects any possibility of meeting Ukraine’s president and instead continues to strike Ukraine with dozens of ballistic missiles, exploiting Ukraine’s shortage of Patriot systems. 

G7 leaders are gathered in the room ahead of today's first working session, focused on Russia's war on Ukraine.

We can see them engaged in small talk ahead of the big talk.

"Did you sleep a bit?" Giorgia Meloni asks Sanae Takaichi.

Credit: Associated Press

As Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrived in Évian for the G7 summit, Moscow came under a drone attack that set an oil refinery about 15km from the Kremlin ablaze and forced temporary flight restrictions at Domodedovo, Sheremetyevo, Vnukovo and Zhukovsky airports.

The Moscow Oil Refinery in the Kapotnya district is the largest in the region, supplying more than a third of the capital’s fuel needs, including aviation kerosene, and processing about 11–12mn tonnes of crude a year into some 30 types of petroleum products.

A separate overnight drone strike sparked a fire at an oil depot in Krasnodar Krai, a strategic region along Russia’s Black Sea coast.

The attacks come as Zelenskyy seeks support from G7 leaders in Évian, underscoring how Ukraine’s mid- and long-range drone and strike capabilities have evolved and intensified, targeting Russia's war machine.

Emmanuel Macron, the host of the G7 summit, is currently outside the hotel as he waits for Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

As President Zelenskyy joins leaders, it's worth noting a glaring fracture in the transatlantic alliance: sanctions.

Each side of the Atlantic has gone its own way in squeezing the Russian war economy. Under Donald Trump, the White House has issued three consecutive waivers on Russian oil, the Kremlin's main source of revenue, to cope with the global disruption unleashed by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. By contrast, the European Union has doubled down on sanctions, presenting a new proposal last week and refusing to slow down its pace.

"Our sanctions keep biting hard and cutting deep," Ursula von der Leyen said. "They are weakening the economic foundations of Russia's war effort."

However, there are limits as to how much the EU can do. Von der Leyen's idea for a full ban on maritime services for Russian tankers has lingered on the table since early February. Due to the reservations of Greece and Malta, two coastal member states that service Russian ships, the full ban was made dependent on a G7 agreement. But the G7, as we can see, is nowhere near on the same page.

"There must be stronger sanctions. And Europe can lead on that," Zelenskyy said on Monday. 

Zelenskyy and Trump last held a formal bilateral meeting at Mar-a-Lago in Florida in December 2025. After the talks, both leaders spoke of “great achievements” and the Ukrainian president said US security guarantees for Kyiv had been “100% agreed”. 

Trump stressed back then that one major issue remained unresolved: possible territorial concessions, saying that “some of that land is maybe up for grabs” and that the sides would “have to iron that one out”.

The diplomatic process continued the following month at the World Economic Forum in Davos, where the two leaders held an hour-long meeting. Zelenskyy again pointed to security guarantees as the key deliverable, describing the Davos talks as “the last mile” before announcing a US post-war security framework for Ukraine.

That effort has lost momentume as the war launched by the US and Israel against Iran at the end of February has absorbed Washington’s attention and, critically, diverted priority access to US military supplies away from Ukraine.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is scheduled to arrive at the G7 summit in Évian at 8:55 a.m., where he will be welcomed by French President Emmanuel Macron.

After a brief informal meeting with Macron, Zelenskyy will join a special G7 session dedicated to Ukraine.

Later in the day, Zelenskyy is set to hold bilateral talks with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, the International Monetary Fund's Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva, and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

Zelenskyy’s office said there would be “other meetings” throughout the day, but did not confirm whether a meeting with US President Donald Trump is on the agenda.

Trump is already in Evian and said on Monday that after the Iran deal he will now turn his attention back to Ukraine. 

“Now that this is finished, we are going to be focusing on that and see if we can get that one done,” Trump said, sitting alongside Macron.

The second day of the G7 summit is underway in Évian-les-Bains.

The day will have three main working sessions:

• 09:00: Peacebuilding and security for Ukraine and Europe
• 12:00: Responding to crises and ensuring stability in the Middle East
• 15:15: Forging new partnerships and rebuilding international solidarity

Tuesday will see multiple guest leaders, including Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskyy, India's Narendra Modi, South Korea's Lee Jae Myung and Kenya's William Ruto.

The day will conclude late, with a gala dinner hosted by Emmanuel and Brigitte Macron.