WASHINGTON (June 18, 2026) – Leaders at the G7 Summit in France have pledged to strengthen Ukraine’s air defences and tighten sanctions on Russia’s gas and oil industries.
Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States and the European Union are open to giving Ukraine permission to manufacture their weapons domestically, rather than relying solely on imports. President Zelenskyy, who also attended the summit, spoke with President Trump about additional support for Ukraine and security challenges due to the war with Russia.
For more analysis on these developments, please consider Henry Hale, professor of Political Science and International Affairs, and director of the Elliott School's Institute for European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies (IERES). Hale has spent extensive time conducting field research in post-Soviet Eurasia and is currently working on identity politics and political system change, with a special focus now on public opinion dynamics in Russia and Ukraine. His work has won two prizes from the American Political Science Association and includes the books The Zelensky Effect (Hurst/Oxford 2022) and Patronal Politics (Cambridge, 2015).
To schedule an interview, please contact Nadia Payne at nadia [dot] payne
gwu [dot] edu (nadia[dot]payne[at]gwu[dot]edu) or GW media at gwmediagwu [dot] edu (gwmedia[at]gwu[dot]edu).
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