Leaders of the world's seven largest democratic economies emerged from a three-day summit in Évian-les-Bains, a lakeside resort town in southeastern France, with a unified statement pledging stepped-up pressure on Russia and renewed support for Ukraine — a result hailed as a diplomatic success after months of transatlantic friction.
The joint communiqué, signed by all seven leaders including US President Donald Trump, committed the group to strengthening sanctions against Russia, specifically targeting its fossil fuel revenues. Leaders also agreed to expand deliveries of long-range missiles and air defence systems to Ukraine, and to grant licences allowing Ukrainian companies to produce such weapons domestically. The statement explicitly acknowledged that there was "no genuine willingness" on Russia's part to negotiate peace, a pointed assessment that reflected Trump's own increasingly impatient tone toward Moscow during the summit. "They both want to do something, they just don't know how to do it," Trump said of Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who attended the summit as a guest.
The shift in US posture was widely noted by European partners. French President Emmanuel Macron described the meeting as a moment of "strategic awakening" and said Trump had come to understand that Vladimir Putin was not genuinely interested in peace. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, calling the outcome a "day of hope," said Trump had been "very cooperative" and expressed cautious optimism that Europeans and Americans could now work together to end the war. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni noted "a lot of convergence" on Ukraine, adding there was "no friction or divergence" among the group. The summit marked a notable contrast to last year's G7, when Trump left early and refused to sign a joint statement.
Beyond Ukraine, the summit's agenda was shaped by Trump's framework agreement with Iran, which leaders described as a "historic opportunity" to prevent Tehran from acquiring nuclear weapons. The deal is also expected to reopen the Strait of Hormuz — the narrow waterway between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran through which a significant share of global oil and gas passes — which had been disrupted by the conflict. G7 nations reaffirmed that freedom of passage through the strait must be free of charge, a response to Iranian suggestions that commercial vessels pay "maritime costs." France and the United Kingdom offered to lead a naval mission to protect commercial shipping in the strait, with several other nations, including the Netherlands, pledging mine-clearing vessels.
The summit also touched on artificial intelligence governance, a worsening Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda, and mounting debt burdens in developing economies. For European leaders, however, the headline result was clear: a US president who had previously kept allies guessing about his commitment to Ukraine had, at least for now, aligned himself firmly with the G7's position. Macron capped the summit with a private dinner for Trump at the Palace of Versailles outside Paris, where Trump later signed the Iran memorandum of understanding — a piece of stagecraft that reflected both the summit's diplomatic ambitions and the highly personal nature of great-power politics in the current moment.