EVIAN, France – French President Emmanuel Macron declared that the G7 summit in Evian produced a “very deep change in the US approach” on Ukraine, as leaders from the world’s seven largest advanced economies delivered a unified joint statement that President Donald Trump endorsed in full, a sharp departure from last year’s fractious gathering.
Speaking at the closing press conference of the G7 summit, Macron highlighted the significance of the joint communique, which all seven leaders including Trump signed. The statement vowed to increase sanctions on Russia, including in the energy sector, and committed member states to accelerating deliveries of air defense capacities, long-range strike capabilities, and support for Ukraine’s energy infrastructure resilience.
“President Trump, like all of us, simply acknowledged that there was no serious willingness on Russia’s part today to discuss peace,” Macron told reporters. The French president described the shift as an “Evian moment,” a “very profound shift and remobilisation of the G7” that realigned the bloc behind a common approach to the war.
The contrast with the 2025 G7 summit was stark. At that meeting in Canada, Trump walked out early and refused to sign the joint communique, creating a public rift that Western diplomats spent months trying to repair. This year, not only did Trump remain for the full duration, but he actively participated in shaping the language on Ukraine.
Trump held two bilateral meetings with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the margins of the summit. Zelenskyy updated Trump on battlefield developments and Ukraine’s military progress, according to officials familiar with the conversations. The meetings marked a significant thaw after months of strained relations between Washington and Kyiv.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, whose country hosted last year’s acrimonious summit, observed that Trump had undergone a notable evolution. “There is a more realistic understanding of how this war will develop,” Carney said. Diplomats in Evian noted that Trump’s mood appeared considerably improved compared to 2025, with several sensing that the imminent conclusion of the US-led campaign in Iran had relieved a significant source of pressure on the president.
One of the most concrete outcomes of the summit was an agreement between the United States and several European countries to produce long-range missiles and air defense systems under license inside Ukraine. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz acknowledged the scale of the challenge, stating bluntly: “We are all currently producing too little.” The licensed-production arrangement is intended to bypass supply-chain bottlenecks and deliver weapons directly to Ukrainian forces more rapidly.
The joint communique’s language on sanctions was notably tougher than many observers had expected. G7 leaders agreed to tighten the enforcement of existing sanctions and to impose new restrictions on Russian energy exports, closing loopholes that Moscow has used to maintain revenue streams. The measures target Russia’s shadow fleet of tankers, intermediary trading companies, and third-country financial institutions that facilitate transactions above the price cap.
When asked whether he trusted Trump to follow through on the commitments made at Evian, Macron was emphatic. “I have always trusted President Trump. When he has made commitments to us he has always done what he said he would do,” Macron said. The remark underscored the diplomatic gamble the French leader is taking by betting that this year’s alignment represents a durable strategic shift rather than a temporary convergence of interests.
The summit also addressed Ukraine’s acute energy vulnerability. Russian strikes have systematically targeted Ukraine’s power grid ahead of winter, and the G7 pledged to accelerate the delivery of repair equipment, generators, and air defense systems to protect critical infrastructure. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced an additional 500 million euros in emergency energy assistance to help Kyiv withstand what is expected to be the most difficult winter since the full-scale invasion began.
Diplomats cautioned that while the Evian summit produced impressive unity on paper, the hard work of implementation lies ahead. The licensed-weapons-production plan requires navigating export control regimes, intellectual property protections, and security clearances. The sanctions package will need active enforcement by multiple governments. And the fundamental question of how to bring Russia to meaningful negotiations remains unanswered.
But for now, Macron and his fellow leaders are claiming a victory for Atlantic unity. Whether the “Evian moment” endures beyond the summit’s closing press conference will depend on how quickly and completely those paper commitments translate into weapons on the ground and pressure on Moscow. What made this summit different from its predecessor was not the language of the final statement alone, but the fact that every leader in the room signed it without reservation. For a G7 that had appeared on the verge of fracture, that alone qualified as a significant achievement.