They’re the odd couple of world politics: strategic rivals, with a personal bond. Yet now, U.S. President Donald Trump and Russia’s Vladimir Putin also share an unwelcome distinction that risks tarnishing the strongman image the two men have long sought to project.
Both leaders launched wars against comprehensively outgunned foes – Iran and Ukraine – in the expectation of a quick and easy victory, only to find themselves mired in costly conflicts with steadily diminishing prospects of prevailing by force, or even exiting on their own terms.
This week, however, their paths diverged.
Why We Wrote This
European leaders heard a more cooperative tone from President Donald Trump at the Group of Seven summit this week, and they are hoping to see greater willingness in Washington to work toward ending Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Mr. Trump acted decisively to try to end his Iran war. On Wednesday, the president signed a memorandum of understanding with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian that lays the groundwork for a 60-day ceasefire, the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, and further negotiations on core issues, including Iran’s nuclear program.
Mr. Putin, by contrast, is showing no sign he’s ready to end his war on Ukraine, more than four years after launching a full-scale invasion.
That contrast has raised a critical question for America’s Western allies, who strongly back Ukraine, and for Ukraine itself – a question figuring prominently at this week’s annual summit of G7 countries.
It is whether the chastening insights Mr. Trump may have gained from his own war of choice could weaken his broadly pro-Russia view of the Ukraine war, potentially bringing new pressure on Mr. Putin to move toward a negotiated resolution.
The signals coming from the G7 meeting, hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron in the spa town of Evian-les-Bains, were mixed.
Mr. Trump told reporters his focus remained on Iran. While he said the humanitarian cost of the Ukraine war still convinced him it had to end, it had “no impact on us, other than we sell weapons” to the Ukrainians. “We’re thousands of miles away.”
As the summit progressed, however, the president seemed receptive to efforts by allied leaders to get him to urge the Russian leader to the negotiating table.
Thibault Camus/Reuters
President Donald Trump, French President Emmanuel Macron, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during a working session at the Group of Seven summit in Evian-les-Bains, France, June 16, 2026.
Mr. Trump also met face-to-face with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, despite pre-summit guidance from U.S. officials that no such meeting was planned.
The argument the president heard at the summit had two thrusts. The first was that NATO allies had stepped up their commitments and were now providing the lion’s share of Western support for Ukraine. The second was that the war itself was changing, and momentum shifting in Kyiv’s favor.
A statement from the G7 summit, issued in the early hours of Wednesday, included a strong commitment to Ukraine.
Citing “new momentum” in the war, it promised increased “air defence capabilities, additional systems and interceptors, and long-range capabilities” for Ukraine.
It also said summit leaders were “ready to consider” something critical for Kyiv: allowing it a license to make its own U.S.-designed Patriot missiles to intercept nightly barrages from Russia.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney told reporters he sensed a “change in orientation” on Ukraine from Mr. Trump. The U.S. leader’s position now seemed “tougher toward Russia and more realistic, in our view, about the situation on the ground.”
If Mr. Carney’s assessment turns out to be true, it would represent a dramatic shift in the American president’s relationship with President Putin.
Evelyn Hockstein/AP
President Donald Trump speaks with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney at a working lunch with leaders of the Group of Seven and the Middle East in Evian-les-Bains, France, June 16, 2026.
Mr. Trump has frequently spoken warmly about the Russian leader. “I’ve known him a long time,” he remarked after one telephone conversation this spring. And he has told reporters they speak more often than is publicly revealed.
While he has occasionally criticized Russia’s attacks on Ukrainian civilians, he has leaned heavily toward Russia’s view of the war, even repeatedly blaming Ukraine for starting the conflict.
His envoys in earlier efforts to secure a peace deal – real estate investor Steve Witkoff and the president’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner – have held a series of meetings with Mr. Putin in the Kremlin.
They have yet to visit Kyiv.
Especially after the political and economic pressures that Mr. Trump has been facing during the protracted Iran war, he will understand how difficult it could prove to get Mr. Putin to take a diplomatic exit ramp.
For Mr. Trump, falling short of his early aims for the Iran war – regime change, for instance, or Iran’s “un…
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