Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Tuesday that the Group of Seven (G7) leaders agreed at the summit in France that Russia was not winning its war in Ukraine and that they discussed additional sanctions against Moscow.
He spoke to Reuters via video link at the Reuters NEXT Europe Summit in London, where he said he detected a shift in mood among the G7 leaders. According to him, there was an understanding that Russia had lost its footing in the battlefield and resorted to deliberately targeting civilian infrastructure.
Zelenskyy told Reuters editor-in-chief Alessandra Galloni, “We had unanimity that Russia is not winning and they are losing a lot of people, that they have to make a deal as quickly as possible, and they don’t have the initiative in their hands.”
Zelenskyy said the G7 leaders also discussed additional sanctions targeting Russia’s oil exports at a morning session in the French resort of Evian-les-Bains.
He said Ukraine would maintain its long-range drone and missile strikes on Russian energy and military targets but insisted that more political pressure was needed to push Russian President Vladimir Putin towards a peace deal.
“He doesn’t want to stop the war. He has to be under more pressure,” said Zelenskyy.
He further added, “I think that President (Donald) Trump can do it, maybe only him.”
Zelenskyy calls for meeting with Putin before winter
Zelenskyy said he hoped U.S President Donald Trump could mediate direct negotiations with Putin in a neutral country such as Switzerland, Turkey, or in West Asia before winter.
“It’s a very important thing to try to organize a meeting before the winter,” he said.
Citizens in Ukraine had suffered under the previous winter after Russia inflicted significant damage on its electricity and power.
“We don’t want to go through the same winter again,” said Zelenskyy “And Russia has to know… they will also not have a simple one.”
