Russia-Ukraine war live: Macron says ceasefire could come in ‘weeks’ as US sides with Russia at UN | Ukraine

Last week, Donald Trump said it had been a “mistake” to expel Russia out of what was then the G8 after Vladimir Putin’s annexation of Crimea in 2014. He has requested that Russia be admitted back into the G7 (Group of Seven), comprised of some of the world’s most economically advanced countries. They are Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and the US.

German finance minister Joerg Kukies has been speaking to Reuters in an interview about whether or not Russia should be allowed to rejoin the G7 despite its illegal full-scale invasion of Ukraine. He firmly said it shouldn’t be readmitted.

“The condemnation of the G7 of Russia’s war of aggression is very clear, especially on the third anniversary of Russia’s brutal attack,” Kukies said, adding that Trump’s proposal would not get the unanimity required.

Kukies will travel to Cape Town today for the G20 meeting of finance ministers, with the US treasury secretary Scott Bessent staying away due to a scheduling conflict.

Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the war in Ukraine.

French president Emmanuel Macron has said a truce “could be done in the weeks to come”, shortly after meeting Donald Trump at the White House where he told the US president a deal should not mean the “surrender” of Ukraine.

“[A] truce on air, sea [and] infrastructure,” the French president told Fox News. “If it is not respected, it will be the best evidence of the fact that Russia is not serious.”

“We want peace. And I think the initiative of President Trump is a very positive one. But my message was to say be careful because we need something substantial for Ukraine,” he added.

At a press conference with Macron, the US president claimed he had made more progress in the past month than was made in the previous three years. “I believe that Emmanuel agrees with me on many of the most important issues,” he said. “Europe must take a central role in ensuring the long-term security of Ukraine.”

Macron’s visit comes days before that of UK prime minister Keir Starmer. The pair had agreed to show “united leadership in support of Ukraine” ahead of their meetings with Trump.

While Macron and Trump met in Washington, the US sided with Russia at the UN, pushing for a resolution on the three-year anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine that did not mention Moscow’s role as the aggressor.

The resolution was passed in the security council, by 10 votes to 0. France, Britain, Denmark, Greece and Slovenia abstained in the vote.

The UN general assembly earlier backed a resolution drafted by Ukraine and the EU condemning Moscow, while spurning the rival US resolution that did not include any mention of Russia aggression.

In other key developments:

• Donald Trump said Vladimir Putin would accept European peacekeepers in Ukraine as part of a potential deal to end the three-year war. Speaking before bilateral talks at the White House, French president Emmanuel Macron said Europe was prepared to provide security guarantees to Ukraine in the event of a ceasefire including peacekeepers, although they would not be sent to the frontline. Trump said he saw no objection to European troops being sent to Ukraine to serve as peacemakers, adding that he had raised the idea with Putin.

• Trump described a potential minerals deal with Ukraine as “very close” and said he might meet Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy soon to seal the agreement. Trump added that he would also be meeting Putin at some point. Zelenskyy last week rejected US demands for $500bn in mineral wealth from Ukraine to repay Washington for wartime aid, contending that the US had supplied nowhere near that sum so far and offered no specific security guarantees in the agreement.

• More than a dozen world leaders gathered in Kyiv on Monday to mark the third anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion. A coordinated Europe-led show of solidarity took an overnight train for a summit with Volodymyr Zelenskyy, including the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, Canada’s prime minister, Justin Trudeau, and Finland’s president, Alexander Stubb.

• The coordinated Europe-led show of solidarity on Monday came after a torrid week, in which Trump blamed Ukraine for starting the war against Russia, described Zelenskyy as a “dictator without elections”, and made it clear Europe would have to enforce and pay for any future peace settlement. There was strong collective pushback against the US president’s upside down version of recent history and a consensus that Ukraine had to take part in negotiations over its future.

• Russia’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow will cease its military actions only if the outcome is “satisfactory” to Russia. He said that many more countries had become “realistic” in their position on Ukraine, and that the recent meeting in Riyadh raised the hope of having normal dialogue between Russia and the US.

• EU foreign ministers have discussed sending billions of military aid to Ukraine, ahead of a summit dedicated to European defence next week. At a meeting in Brussels on Monday a handful of countries proposed military aid for Ukraine in 2025 ranging from €20bn to €40bn, according to several diplomatic sources.

• The EU is spending more money on Russian fossil fuels than on financial aid to Ukraine, according to a new report. The EU bought €21.9bn (£18.1bn) of Russian oil and gas in the third year of the war, an amount equalling one-sixth greater than the €18.7bn the EU allocated to Ukraine in financial aid in 2024.

• Downing Street said Trump has changed the global conversation around Ukraine “for the better”, as the UK imposed further sanctions on Russia in an effort to force Putin to make concessions. Keir Starmer’s spokesperson did not comment on Trump’s false claims that Volodymyr Zelenskyy was a dictator. Starmer will hold talks with Trump in Washington on Thursday.