EVIAN-LES-BAINS, June 17: U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday told a roomful of global leaders "I'm the boss", as he and other G7 heads acknowledged Ukraine's improved battlefield fortunes with a unified pledge of support and fresh sanctions against Russia.
Trump's comment - a tongue-in-cheek acknowledgment of an unspoken truth hanging over the June 15-17 summit of the Group of Seven Western powers in the French resort of Evian-les-Bains - followed a joint leaders' statement that could bolster Kyiv's growing leverage in potential peace talks with Moscow.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and his allies came to the G7 hoping to convince Trump that Ukraine's fightback is delivering results, and that Russia is in no position to dictate terms for any peace deal.
The joint statement and comments from leaders suggest Trump has warmed to Zelensky's argument after years of scepticism. A G7 summit in Canada last year ended without any joint stance on Ukraine.
However, any hopes of strongarming Moscow into peace talks still rely on Trump commitments, which can be elusive. It was unclear if bilateral Trump-Zelenskiy talks would take place, and it also remains to be seen if Trump will allow waivers to lapse on sanctions restricting Russian oil exports, now that he has secured a preliminary Iran deal.
"I'm the boss," Trump told G7 chiefs and reporters as he arrived to take his seat at a session on global economic security, where leaders were due to discuss supply chains for critical minerals and macroeconomic imbalances.
"There has been a change in position on the part of the United States and President Trump," Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney told reporters. "There is a position that is harder toward Russia and more realistic, in our view, of the situation on the ground of the war."
G7 chiefs also welcomed a preliminary peace deal between the United States and Iran and said they were ready to help implement it.
They said they would make efforts to diversify energy supply routes to reduce dependence on the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran has blocked for most of the duration of its war with the U.S., and increase stocks.
Trump did, however, stress on Wednesday that the memorandum of understanding with Iran was not final, and that he could resume a bombing campaign if it was not honoured.
"If I don't like it, if they don't behave, we'll go right back to dropping bombs right smack in the middle of their head, OK?" he said.
Although European allies appeared supportive of the preliminary memorandum in public, diplomats cautioned that getting a lasting deal on Iran's nuclear and ballistic missile programme as well as its support for proxy forces in the Middle East is no small challenge."REUTERS
