Zelenskyy says G7 leaders pledge more vital help for Ukraine against Russia

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Zelenskyy says G7 leaders pledge more vital help for Ukraine against Russia

2026-06-17 23:12 Last Updated At：23:20

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Wednesday his country has won key pledges of further support from world leaders in defending itself from Russia's full-scale invasion, now in its fifth year.

Leaders attending the Group of Seven summit in France promised to strengthen Ukraine’s air defenses and ensure its energy supply, as well as step up international economic pressure on Moscow.

“The G7 Summit in France delivered important results for Ukraine. Most importantly, we agreed on additional strengthening of Ukraine’s air defense,” Zelenskyy, who attended the gathering, said on X.

“Our partners will ensure support for our defense and energy resilience,” he said, adding they will also introduce new sanctions on Russia.

French President Emmanuel Macron said the summit at the lakeside resort of Evian-les-Bains produced “unprecedented convergence” among G7 leaders, including U.S. President Donald Trump, on maintaining support for Ukraine. Trump and Zelenskyy have had a sometimes strained relationship.

Zelenskyy has spent a lot of time since the war began in 2022 trying to secure international support and isolate Russian President Vladimir Putin diplomatically.

Zelenskyy was expected at a European Union summit in Brussels on Thursday. Ukraine on Monday officially started its EU membership negotiations, launching a process that could take years even as it fights Russia.

The Iran war has distracted Washington from its largely fruitless effort to end the fighting in Ukraine, and Zelenskyy sought to engage with Trump at the G7 gathering where key European leaders were also present.

Putin has tried to cut out Europe and Kyiv and negotiate Ukraine’s future directly with Washington.

The leaders of Japan, the U.K., France, Germany, Italy, Canada and the U.S. threw their support behind Ukraine in a joint statement published overnight.

“We commend Ukraine for its resilience and progress on the battlefield in recent months and emphasize there is now a new momentum” in Kyiv’s resistance, it said.

Ukraine’s performance against Russia’s bigger army has improved markedly in recent months, Western officials and analysts say.

High-tech Ukrainian drones are pinning down Russian troops on the front line, choking Russian supply lines in occupied regions of Ukraine and disrupting oil production deep inside Russia that provides vital revenue for Moscow. That has made the war, which Moscow refers to as a “special military operation,” more visible to Russians and increased pressure on Putin.

But Ukraine is short of U.S.-made Patriot air defense missiles, in part because of American stocks being depleted by the Middle East conflict, leaving it vulnerable to Russia's ballistic missiles.

The G7 statement promised Ukraine more air defense capabilities, without specifying what type of weapons.

The leaders also said they would consider granting Ukraine licenses for it to manufacture Western weapons. Kyiv has asked for permits to make Patriot missiles itself.

The summit outcome shows that G7 backing for Ukraine is “as strong as seldom before” and sends a clear signal to Moscow, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said.

In Russia's Bryansk region, which borders both Ukraine and Belarus, Gov. Egor Kovalchuk said a Ukrainian drone struck a bus carrying a children’s soccer team. A woman among the 44 passengers, which authorities said included 28 children, was killed, according to Kovalchuk. Eight people, including six children, were wounded as the bus traveled to Russia from Belarus, he said.

But Ukraine’s General Staff dismissed the Russian allegation, calling it a “fabrication,” and saying its forces did not conduct drone operations in the Bryansk region at the time. Its statement reiterated that soldiers aim only at military targets.

In other attacks reported Wednesday, a Russian drone struck an equestrian sports school for children in Ukraine’s northeastern Sumy region, hitting a stable and killing horses, a regional official said.

Staff at the school were not hurt in the nighttime attack, according to preliminary information, said Oleh Hryhorov of the Sumy regional military administration.

Meanwhile, Russia’s Defense Ministry said that air defenses downed 157 Ukrainian drones from late Tuesday until early Wednesday.

AP reporters Illia Novikov in Kyiv, Ukraine, Barry Hatton in Lisbon, Portugal, Geir Moulson in Berlin and Sylvie Corbet in Evian-les-Bains, France, contributed.

Follow the AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

G7 leaders back Trump's plan to end Iran war that faces skepticism at home

EVIAN-LES-BAINS, France (AP) — Leaders at the Group of Seven summit on Wednesday threw their support behind U.S. President Donald Trump's tentative agreement with Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz and further extend a shaky ceasefire — even though neither the White House nor Iran has publicly released the text of the deal.

Closing the three-day summit, French President Emmanuel Macron called it a “very good deal,” adding that U.S. allies in the G7 support it “because it’s an agreement that puts a stop to a situation of great instability that had terrible consequences for our economies.”

According to leaked copies of an interim agreement, Iran will immediately take steps to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, at the mouth of the Persian Gulf, through which a fifth of the world’s oil and natural gas supplies once passed, once the deal is signed. Iran will also be allowed to sell its oil without restrictions. Officials say the leaked text broadly matches the document.

The accord, due to be formally signed in a ceremony in Switzerland on Friday, lays out that the U.S. would work to end all American and United Nations sanctions imposed on Tehran if a final agreement addressing Iran’s nuclear program is reached.

“I think it’ll be done. They want to sign. They want to get back to a normal life,” Trump said.

The final day of talks at a lakeside resort in the French Alps started late with Trump, the last to arrive, saying “I’m the boss” as he entered the room and sat next to Macron. The assembled leaders laughed, and Trump grinned.

The G7 leaders closed the formal talks of the leading industrial democracies with sessions on the future of artificial intelligence and fostering economic growth.

They discussed concerns that China is flooding export markets with subsidized products, unfairly out-competing their own industries and destroying jobs. Leaders of India, South Korea, Kenya and Brazil also joined the meeting.

Trump later plans to make a stop for a glitzy dinner at the Palace of Versailles outside of Paris before he jets back to Washington.

While G7 leaders gave it their backing, Trump still has to sell the deal to some members of his own party who doubt it will defang Iran’s nuclear program. At the same time, he faces an anxious international community looking for him to follow through on his promise that the deal will reopen the Strait of Hormuz to oil tanker traffic, and keep it open.

The leaders said that an international maritime mission led by France and the U.K. “can play an important role to facilitate the resumption of maritime traffic in the Strait of Hormuz by protecting merchant vessels, reassuring commercial shipping operators, and supporting verification that all mines are removed.”

Iran has in effect shuttered the strait, a maritime chokepoint, since the first days of the conflict that began on Feb. 28.

The deal also calls for an immediate end to all fighting in Lebanon between Israel and the Iranian-backed militia Hezbollah. That is one of the most delicate parts of the agreement because Israel has maintained it will continue to defend itself and to occupy vast swaths of Lebanon. Iran has said Israel must withdraw under the deal, although the leaked versions make no mention of withdrawal.

In their declaration, G7 leaders said they supported “through an immediate robust ceasefire” Lebanese efforts to disarm Hezbollah, and protect Lebanon’s territorial integrity and sovereignty.

Israeli strikes in Lebanon have killed nearly 4,000 people, including hundreds of civilians, and displaced more than 1 million since fighting there began on March 2. “Israel’s fighting Hezbollah too long, and too many people are being killed,” Trump said.

In a flurry of unanimously agreed declarations, the G7 leaders stressed their support for Ukraine as it battles Russia's invasion and agreed to increase deliveries of air defense systems. They also said they would bolster sanctions on Moscow, including on Russia's oil and gas industries.

Leaders also pledged to step up the fight against the multibillion dollar international drug trade. The statement comes as Trump has been waging his own battle against drug traffickers.

United States military strikes on alleged drug-carrying boats transiting in Latin America have killed more than 200 people since September, when the Trump administration began an operation it has justified as necessary to stem the flow of drugs.

Critics have questioned the legality of the strikes.

In a separate declaration, the G7 leaders reaffirmed their efforts to halt migrant smuggling and human trafficking, which they said “constitute serious transnational crimes that erode the sovereign right of States to control their borders and expose smuggled and trafficked persons to life-threatening risks.”

Trump said Wednesday after meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi that the U.S. is “very close” to reaching a trade deal with India, and then went on to lavish praise on Modi as “a very tough negotiator.”

“He’s the most beautiful-looking man. He looks so nice. He’s like an angel. But actually, he’s as tough as he’s a killer,” Trump said.

The meeting with Modi at a choppy moment in the U.S.-India relationship, in part because of the war in the Middle East. On June 10 three Indian sailors were killed in a U.S. military strike on a tanker in the Gulf of Oman in the midst of the American blockade targeting oil shipments passing through the Strait of Hormuz.

Modi alluded to the incident at their meeting, saying the safety of Indian mariners "is of utmost importance to us.” Modi said he was “confident” the issue of seafarers” will be a top priority during implementation of the agreement between the United States and Iran.

Superville reported from Geneva. AP writers John Leicester in Evian-les-Bains, Jamey Keaten in Geneva, Mike Corder in The Hague, Netherlands, and Collin Binkley in Washington contributed reporting.