June 17 (Reuters) – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said late on Wednesday he had spoken to U.S. President Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron in a “coordinating conversation” at the close of the G7 summit in Evian.
“This was an important coordinating conversation which could change a great deal,” Zelenskiy wrote on Telegram.
“I am grateful to President Trump for his attention to Ukraine and for his readiness to help bring peace closer. I am grateful to Emmanuel for the excellent organisation of the summit and the consistently strong joint work.”
Zelenskiy, in a subsequent post on Telegram, said he had discussed the outcome of the Evian summit with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte in Brussels.
“The main thing is working on strengthening our defence and getting U.S. licences to produce air defence systems,” Zelenskiy wrote.
He thanked Rutte for his support and pledged to make next month’s NATO summit in Ankara “effective for the defence of Ukraine”.
Zelenskiy pointed to the importance of a meeting on Thursday of the “Ramstein” group, an alliance of more than 50 countries that provides financial and military aid to Kyiv. Separately EU leaders are also scheduled to meet on Thursday.
Ukrainian Defence Minister Mykhail Fedorov said on Wednesday that Kyiv was seeking an additional $20 billion in military funding from its allies. A Ukrainian defence source told Reuters last week that Ukraine would make the request at the Ramstein group meeting.
(Reporting by Ron Popeski and Oleksandr Kozhukhar; Editing by Nia Williams and Sanjeev Miglani)
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