G7 summit opens full day of talks with Ukraine, Iran and Trump tensions in focus

G7 leaders have turned their attention to Ukraine, Iran and trade tensions on Tuesday as President Volodymyr Zelensky joined the summit in Evian-les-Bains, where France is trying to keep US President Donald Trump engaged on Russia while managing his unpredictable approach to allies.

The Group of Seven summit, hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron at the lakeside spa town, has been shaped by Trump's tentative deal to end the US war against Iran, questions over reopening the Strait of Hormuz and a reported threat to impose a 100-percent tariff on French wine and champagne.

Macron faces a delicate balancing act in hosting the US leader. Trump is reportedly threatening to slap the tariff on French wine and champagne unless Paris removes a digital services tax.

Trump arrived in Evian-les-Bains on Monday after celebrating his 80th birthday by watching MMA cage fighting at the White House the previous night. He is due to remain in France until Wednesday, when he is expected to dine with Macron at the Palace of Versailles outside Paris after the G7 ends.

Macron leads effort to bridge divides with Trump at France's G7 summit

Trump pressure

Meanwhile, Zelensky was welcomed by Macron in the gardens of the Hotel Royal, on the shores of Lake Geneva, where the summit opened on Monday evening. The two leaders exchanged a warm embrace and walked together to the hotel's main entrance, where they posed for a handshake without making statements to reporters.

They then sat down for a bilateral meeting before rejoining the other leaders for talks on ways to restart negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin and end the war in Ukraine, more than four years after Russia's full-scale invasion.

The Ukraine talks come after Trump said he had good conversations on Sunday with Zelensky and Putin, and after he announced an agreement to end the three-and-a-half-month-old US war against Iran. “Now that this [Iran] is finished, we're going to be focusing on that,” Trump said at the G7 summit.

Zelensky is hoping for a one-on-one meeting with Trump, who was expected at the G7 leaders' table on Tuesday morning. The last meeting between the two leaders took place in late December at Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida.

A bilateral meeting has not been announced. But the US president, who has been preoccupied in recent months by the conflict with Iran, said on Monday that he had spoken on Sunday with both leaders. “A very good conversation with President Zelensky and President Putin,” Trump said. “And I think we might be able to do something.”

Macron has said he will seek to persuade Trump to continue supporting Ukraine and increase pressure on Russia to help reach a peace agreement.

Clashes as thousands protest in Geneva ahead of G7 summit in France

Ukraine talks

This comes as Russia fired hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles at Ukraine's biggest cities hours before the start of the G7 summit, in a barrage that killed 11 people and set fire to a religious landmark.

Zelensky on Monday urged a “decisive and substantive” response from G7 leaders after the latest wave of Russian strikes, which killed at least 11 people and sparked a fire at a landmark Kyiv cathedral.

While campaigning for a return to the White House, Trump claimed he could end the Russia-Ukraine war within 24 hours of taking office. He has since acknowledged it has proved much harder than he initially thought it would be.

Ukraine on Monday officially started European Union membership negotiations, launching a process that will require its government to commit to years of political reforms even as it fights the Russian invasion.

Ukraine sees EU membership as a security guarantee for a stable future once the war ends. Its best guarantee would be membership in the NATO military alliance, but the Trump administration insists that cannot happen, and others are wary of Ukraine joining while the war continues.

Tuesday's discussions also include a working session focused on ending crises and ensuring stability in the Middle East. Leaders of Egypt, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates are due to join the talks.

France's Macron warns Iran against imposing Hormuz tolls

Hormuz questions

The Middle East session is expected to centre on the economic fallout from the war and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, a key route for oil tanker traffic.

Trump said the strait would be “completely open” from Friday after demining is completed, but played down the need for a major international deployment after London and Paris proposed a joint naval mission. “I don't think we are going to need much help,” Trump said during his meeting with Macron.

The details of the US-Iran agreement have not been disclosed publicly. Macron said the accord had been signed “electronically”, with additional annexes still to be “finalised” on Friday.

Potential Iranian fees on vessels using the strait have also drawn concern, with Tehran insisting it would charge maritime service fees rather than tolls.

“We defend international law and we will do everything in our power to ensure there is no toll,” Macron told TF1 television. “There shouldn't be any tolls or anything that would enrich those in power” in Iran.

The G7 comprises France, the United States, Canada, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United Kingdom. Guest nations at the summit include Brazil, Egypt, India, Kenya, South Korea, Qatar, Ukraine and the UAE.

A large security operation is in place, with thousands of police and troops mobilised in France and neighbouring Switzerland, where protesters clashed with police on Sunday.

Macron has insisted that Trump “needed to stay to the end” of this G7, unlike the previous summit in Canada where the US president left early. He also said the planned meal at Versailles would not be a “gala dinner”.

(With newswires)