At G7 summit, Trump says Ukraine war has 'no impact' on US – Courthouse News
Wednesday, April 23, 2025
U.S. President Donald Trump is in Europe for a Group of Seven meeting. He’s shown little appetite to change his position on Ukraine.
(CN) — At a Group of Seven summit Tuesday on Lake Geneva, U.S. President Donald Trump sent mixed messages about how involved he wanted the United States to be in the Russia-Ukraine war.
He both expressed support for Kyiv and yet declared the war had “no impact on us.” At the same time, he said he would “do whatever I can” to bring the war to an end.
Trump made his comments on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Évian-les-Bains, France, a spa on the shores of Lake Geneva.
This summit, like others in the Trump era, was marked by simmering divisions and tensions between Washington and its allies. The G7 is made up of the U.S., Germany, France, Great Britain, Japan, Canada and Italy.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy attended the Évian summit and met with Trump. It was their first face-to-face meeting in four months.
There were expectations that Trump might turn his attention to the Ukraine war following the announcement of a tentative deal with Iran. But he remained largely noncommittal.
“Look, we have nothing to do with it,” Trump said about the Russia-Ukraine war, speaking to reporters. “It has no impact on us, other than we sell weapons” to Ukraine, he said. “We’re thousands of miles away.”
When Trump was asked whether he would turn his attention back on Ukraine, he said he was “focused on Iran.”
Trump made ending the Ukraine war a priority at the start of his second turn, but negotiations with Moscow and Kyiv failed to bring about substantial breakthroughs.
“This was the [war] I thought was going to be the easiest settled,” Trump said. But he said that wasn’t possible because “there’s a lot of dislike” between Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
But Trump did not rule out playing a role in new diplomatic efforts to end the war.
“I’m going to do whatever I can,” Trump said. He urged Putin to “make a deal” and stop the fighting, which he said has killed far too many people on both sides.
European leaders urged Trump to host talks between Putin and Zelenskyy.
Trump has scaled back American military support for Ukraine and talked about withdrawing troops and equipment from Europe.
Faced with Trump’s reluctance to confront Russia and aid Europe’s defense, European leaders have taken the lead and provided steadfast support to Ukraine with the aim of defeating Russia.
European leaders had hoped to use the G7 summit to push Trump into renewing solid support for Ukraine, but it looked unlikely that they would succeed.
Zelenskyy and European leaders have tried to persuade the U.S. by arguing that Russia is losing on the battlefield and reeling from economic sanctions.
“The tide is turning for Ukraine,” Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission president, said on social media Tuesday. “Ukraine is bravely holding the frontline. Russia’s fatigue is openly showing. That’s the time to double down on our support.”
“Europeans are currently providing almost 100% of the aid to Ukraine,” French President Emmanuel Macron said before the summit. “It is important that our other G7 partners, and in particular the United States, continue to do their part — at the very least, not weaken their position towards Ukraine.”
Trump said he would consider reimposing sanctions on Russian oil once the Strait of Hormuz reopened to tankers. The U.S. lifted sanctions on Russian oil following the energy crisis caused by the war in Iran.
Courthouse News reporter Cain Burdeau is based in the European Union.
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