At G7 summit, Trump says Ukraine war has 'no impact' on US

ÉVIAN-LES-BAINS, France -- President Donald Trump signaled Tuesday that the war in Ukraine was not a priority for the United States, telling reporters at the Group of 7 summit in France that his country had “nothing to do” with a war that was “thousands of miles away.”

Trump’s remarks highlighted persistent divisions with G7 allies even after the announcement of a preliminary deal with Iran had eased some of the tension heading into the summit in Évian-les-Bains. European leaders have hoped to rekindle his interest in engaging with Russia on a settlement to end the war, and his comments were a reminder that Europe has increasingly had to fend for itself, more than four years after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

“It has no impact on us, other than we sell weapons,” Trump said of the war after a closed-door discussion about the fighting.

The summit gathering the leaders of France, Britain, Germany, Italy, Canada, Japan and the United States had begun on a lighter note, with smiles and jokes in front of the cameras. Chancellor Friedrich Merz of Germany handed Trump a German soccer jersey with the number 47, calling it a belated 80th birthday present and saying in a social media post, “We’re on the same team.”

Trump said he had spoken with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine on Tuesday morning and promised to do so again. And he told reporters that he would be able to reimpose sanctions on Russian oil “soon,” now that the agreement with Iran had raised the chances of reopening the Strait of Hormuz.

That reopening would deliver relief to European economies that have been choked by the disruption of oil and gas shipments. European leaders, in turn, have pledged to deploy ships to help demine the waterway and enable marine traffic to navigate it -- once it is clear that the new ceasefire will hold.

At a bilateral meeting on Tuesday with the emir of Qatar, Trump called the agreement a “fair deal” that “should be successful,” even though the details have yet to be released and it defers the most difficult negotiations to future talks.

In related developments:

Ukraine war: Zelenskyy said Ukrainian drones had targeted an oil refinery in Moscow, about 10 miles from the Kremlin, in response to Russian strikes. The Moscow plant, which has been targeted multiple times, processed 11.6 million metric tons of oil in 2024, producing 2.9 million tons of petrol and 3.2 million tons of diesel, according to the latest available data. Russian attacks on cities in Ukraine’s east and southeast killed four people and set ablaze a residence and a shopping center, officials and prosecutors said late on Tuesday.

Shipping: Trump is likely to face questions over his assertion that the Strait of Hormuz will be “permanently” free of tolls, a claim that Iran has disputed.

India: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to meet Trump at the summit on Wednesday, just a week after U.S. attacks on commercial ships left three Indian sailors dead, further straining ties between the countries.

Reuters contributed to this report.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

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This story was originally published June 16, 2026 at 7:21 AM.