Politico: photos of the burning Lavra helped turn Trump toward Ukraine at the G7
Photographs of the burning Dormition Cathedral that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy showed US President Donald Trump at the G7 summit were probably the final push that moved Washington toward firmer support for Ukraine, according to Politico. The outlet cited three G7 officials who described the private exchange in Evian-les-Bains on 16 June.
The sight of the cathedral's golden domes in flames visibly affected Trump, one of the officials said. Russia's strike set the roof of the church—the central shrine of Kyiv's Pechersk Lavra—ablaze during a mass missile and drone assault on 15 June.
French President Emmanuel Macron, the summit host, had spent months working out how to appeal to the American leader, Politico reported. At a dinner the night before, G7 leaders tailored their case to Trump's view of the war, casting Ukraine as the side winning and Russia as the side losing.
The leaders told Trump that Zelenskyy was winning because Russian forces could not break through the front and were even losing ground, a European diplomat told the outlet. Macron, caught on a hot mic the next day, described the conversation with Zelenskyy as difficult.
The approach produced results. The G7, including the United States, agreed to expand military support for Kyiv and backed new sanctions on Russia, pledging "unwavering support" in its 17 June statement and citing Ukraine's momentum on the battlefield.
In its 17 June joint statement, the G7 agreed to send Ukraine more air defense, interceptor missiles, and long-range capabilities, and said it was ready to consider letting Ukraine produce them domestically — but the language commits only to "consider," with no timeline, system, or manufacturer named.
The summit doubled as a sanctions moment. Canada imposed new measures on 162 Russian individuals, entities, and vessels on 16 June, announced after Carney met Zelenskyy on the sidelines and condemned the Lavra strike. Britain's £210 million ($282 million) enriched-uranium deal to feed Energoatom came packaged with fresh sanctions on Russia's oil trade, pushing UK shadow-fleet designations toward 600 vessels.
Diplomats cautioned that the gains could prove fragile. A single phone call between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin could undo them, the European diplomat said, noting that the US president shifts position often.
