If it were up to Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy, it would be a peace deal to end the war with Russia that would be being signed in Geneva on Friday, rather than an agreement between the United States and Iran.
The Ukrainian leader said as much in remarks on the sidelines of the G7 in Évian-les-Bains on Tuesday, when he described making this very proposal to French president Emmanuel Macron back when the event was first being organised.
“When I was invited to G7, I made a phone call to him and said: Emmanuel, what do you think about during the G7 meeting ... we can use this opportunity and try to organise meeting with Russians,” Zelenskiy recalled in an interview with Reuters.
“Maybe in Switzerland, in neutral country ... He was very happy with this idea,” Zelenskiy continued. “But Russians didn’t react ... they didn’t support.”
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The cameras were rolling to capture the moment when, in an overt show of warmth, Macron strode out of the G7 venue to embrace Zelenskiy as he arrived by car.
Microphones incidentally picked up some of their casual talk, with Macron asking Zelenskiy if he had any bilateral meetings with other leaders planned.
Zelenskiy replied that US president Donald Trump had expressed a desire to meet with him in a phone call on Sunday. “Okay, I will arrange that,” Macron promised.
The Ukrainian leader announced his priorities for the summit in advance.
The first was to try to secure the US government’s help in increasing the production of arms company Raytheon’s Patriot air defence missiles, which are used to intercept incoming attacks. The rate of production apparently cannot keep up with Ukraine’s demand.
The second aim is to try to co-ordinate a diplomatic push to pressure Russian president Vladimir Putin to end the war.
“He doesn’t want to stop the war. He has to be under more pressure,” Zelenskiy said.
“Putin, he doesn’t have any feelings about losses. Can you imagine, 35,000 of Russian losses each month? Heavily wounded or killed? Somebody has to stop him.”
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Despite Trump’s ambivalence, even boredom, with the war, Zelenskiy still views him as the pivotal actor who might be able to get Russia to the table.
Trump described speaking to Putin ahead of the summit. “Sort of the same thing, they just keep going, fighting, losing soldiers,” he told reporters.
“It has no impact on us other than we sell weapons. We’re thousands of miles away,” Trump continued.
“Full price.”
He admitted a peace deal was more elusive than he once believed, but that he still wanted to see it happen.
“I don’t like to see 25,000 young people die every month,” Trump said. “Young people. They’re just starting their life, they go to this front and they get blown up. And Ukraine is losing a lot of people too. The whole thing is ridiculous.”
In the past six weeks there has been a subtle shift in tone from Kyiv. Against all odds, Ukraine has managed to claw back small amounts of territory from Russia and is outsmarting it in drone warfare, with an industry that can now produce some 10 million drones a year.
Russia has not been able to seize the remaining fifth of Donetsk that it does not control and is struggling with troop recruitment. Meanwhile, Ukrainian attacks are causing Moscow problems with logistics and supplies.
Nevertheless, it is Ukraine that is pushing hardest for a peace deal. It does not want to face another winter of Russian attacks aimed squarely at punishing civilians.
“I think this is a very important thing, try to organise a meeting before the winter. It was a terrible winter for us, and you have to understand we don’t want to go through the same winter,” Zelenskiy said.
“My proposition: dialogue.”
