Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy meets with US President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the Group of Seven summit in Evian-les-Bains, France on June 16, 2026. Donald Trump has signalled that he is looking to increase sanctions on Russia again as the US is on the cusp of an agreement with Iran.
The US president was speaking shortly after a face-to-face conversation with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the G7 summit in France.
Trump put a waiver on countries buying sanctioned Russian oil earlier this year when global energy supplies were put under strain by the US and Israeli war in Iran.
The controversial move – which undermined years of co-ordinated efforts to punish Russia from Ukraine’s allies – came after Iran effectively shut down the major oil shipping lane, the Strait of Hormuz, in the wake of US-Israeli strikes on Tehran.
But America and Iran have now agreed to hash out a new deal in the next 60 days, and the president has suggested oil transportation will resume.
Trump told reporters at the G7: “Soon we’ll be able to do [reapply penalties against Russia] because the oil is now flowing.
“So we took sanctions off because obviously we’re not looking to impede the US, so we’re in a position to do that soon.”
Senate Democrats told Kyiv Independent in April that Russia earned an additional $150 million per day due to the waiver.
Trump’s shocking decision to ease those penalties came after more than year of yo-yoing from the US president over the Ukraine war, which he once pledged to end within the first 24 hours of his second term.
He has repeatedly rolled out the red carpet for Russia and tried to push Ukraine to give up more land in the name of peace.
But Trump’s remarks from the G7 summit could signal a wider pivot back to support for Kyiv from the White House.
Vladimir Putin is thought to be on the back foot right now in the Ukraine war, more than four years after he first started his illegal land grab.
The economic cost of the conflict, the staggering number of casualties and Kyiv’s recent strikes into the heart of Russia mean Putin is at a disadvantage.
Zelenskyy said ahead of the G7 summit that he was ready to meet his Russian counterpart in the French Alps for face-to-face negotiations, but claimed Putin was not ready to talk.
The Kremlin’s spokesperson Dmitry Peskov hit back, saying: “There are currently no official channels between Kyiv and Moscow.”
He repeated Putin’s previous claims that Zelenskyy could go to Russia if he wanted to talk.
Zelenskyy also sent an open letter to the Russian leader earlier this month calling for them to meet for further negotiations.
But Putin described the missive as “rude,” and rejected it almost immediately.
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