A hot mic moment involving French President Emmanuel Macron and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the G7 summit appeared to capture a brief exchange about Donald Trump, offering a glimpse into how the leaders are navigating a tense diplomatic moment as they seek to keep U.S. support for Ukraine on track.
The exchange took place at the 2026 G7 summit in Évian-les-Bains, France, where Trump, Macron, Zelenskyy and other leaders were gathered for talks on the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, trade, and broader global security concerns.
As Macron greeted Zelenskyy near the summit venue, microphones nearby picked up part of their conversation.
According to reports, Macron told Zelenskyy he had had a
‘difficult’
meeting with Trump the night before, and then asked whether Zelenskyy had managed to secure a bilateral meeting with the U.S. president.
Zelenskyy appeared to say he had not, prompting Macron to respond:
“Okay, I will arrange that.”
Because the rest of the exchange was difficult to hear, it remains unclear exactly what was said after that. But the clip suggested Macron was acting as an intermediary as European leaders tried to keep Trump engaged on Ukraine.
The moment came during a summit in which Trump’s posture toward allies and the war in Ukraine drew close attention. Macron had already met with Trump separately, and later described that discussion as “difficult” in the hot mic exchange with Zelenskyy.
Trump and Zelenskyy were later seen holding a brief bilateral discussion on the sidelines of the summit, after Trump said he would meet the Ukrainian leader again later in the day.
The hot mic moment also arrived against a backdrop of fresh scrutiny over Trump’s body language and personal greetings with Macron.
Earlier in the summit, claims circulated that he gave Macron a
‘dead fish’
handshake before a separate, widely discussed 13-second tug-of-war over the hand of France’s first lady, Brigitte Macron.
That greeting contrasted sharply with the pair’s much-talked-about 2017 handshake, which stretched for nearly 30 seconds as neither leader appeared willing to let go first.
Trump’s exchange with Brigitte was labelled
‘awkward’
while his greeting with Macron left some observers puzzled, given the US president’s reputation for a forceful grab-and-pull style.
JUST IN: 🇺🇸🇫🇷 The handshake between Donald Trump and Macron in Evian, France. pic.twitter.com/o2RY3rP78U
— Anonymous (@YourAnonOne) June 16, 2026
In photos and video from the summit, Macron appears to lift his hand upward toward Trump, who then seems to take it lightly in response.
Clinical psychologist and behavioral expert Denise Dudley told The Huffington Post Trump was ‘literally hanging his hand downward’, like a ‘dead fish’ handshake, which forces the other person to ‘do all the work’.
“God give me strength, I’m about to do this thing that I don’t want to do,”
Dudley said that was the message conveyed by Trump’s body language.
Later, Trump’s name seemed to come up again when the hot mic picked up Macron referring to a
‘bilateral [unintelligible] being organized,’
before Zelenskyy responded:
“With President Trump?”
The pair then appeared to lower their voices, after which Macron said:
“Okay, we’ll arrange that.”
After the summit’s leaders’ meetings, Zelenskyy said Ukraine’s priorities remained air defenses, missiles and pressure on Russia, while Macron continued to push for sustained U.S. engagement on ending the war.
Trump, speaking during his meetings at the summit, said he had spoken with both Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin and suggested attention could soon turn toward efforts to settle the war.
“Now that this (Iran) is finished, we’re going to be focusing on that,” he allegedly said per VT.