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French President Emmanuel Macron has met with US President Donald for talks at the White House amid alarm in Europe over Mr Trump’s hardening stance toward Ukraine.
Mr Macron is the first European leader to visit Mr Trump in his second term and is expected to build on his friendly relationship with the US president as they discuss bringing an end to the war in Ukraine.
Speaking in a joint press conference from the Oval Office, Mr Trump said Russian leader Vladimir Putin would accept European peacekeepers in Ukraine as part of a potential deal to end Russia’s war there.
“Yeah, he will accept it,” Mr Trump told reporters.
“I have asked him that question … he has no problem with it.”
The comments come despite Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov last week describing any plans to deploy European peacekeeping troops as “unacceptable”.
Mr Macron said France was ready to provide security guarantees to Ukraine.
“I think our common objective, clearly, is to build peace and a solid and long-standing peace,” Mr Macron said.
Mr Trump told reporters the war in Ukraine could end “soon, within weeks if we’re smart”.
“If we’re not smart it will keep going … we don’t want that,” he said.
Mr Trump said he would be meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy “in the next week or two” to sign a possible rare minerals deal between the two nations.
Mr Macron says “long-standing peace” is a common objective. (Reuters: Brian Snyder )
Earlier, the two presidents joined other leaders of the G7 in a morning video call where they heard from the Ukrainian president and discussed bringing about an end to the war in Ukraine.
In a post to Truth Social after the call, Mr Trump said everyone expressed the same goal of seeing the war ended and said talks with Russia were “proceeding very well”.
British Prime Minister Kier Starmer is due in Washington this week for further talks on Ukraine’s future amid concern over Mr Trump’s attacks on the Ukrainian leader.
It comes after Mr Trump last week falsely suggested Ukraine was to blame for Russia’s invasion and accused Mr Zelenksyy of being a “dictator”.
The meeting between Mr Macron and Mr Trump came on the same day European leaders gathered to mark three years since Russian forces began their full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
At a security conference in Kyiv, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said sanctions against Russia would remain until a lasting peace could be found.
She also indicated Ukraine could join the European Union before 2030.
Mr Zelenskyy also said he hoped the conflict raging in Ukraine’s east would be over by the end of the year.
It comes a day after Mr Zelenskyy publicly offered to step down as president in exchange for Ukraine being granted NATO membership.
Chinese president hails ‘no limits’ partnership with Putin
Chinese President Xi Jinping and Mr Putin have reaffirmed their “no limits” partnership in a phone call on Monday, as the two countries monitor how Mr Trump intends to end the war in Ukraine.
The two leaders first declared their strategic partnership in the days leading up to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
The West has accused China of supporting Russia’s war effort through trade and purchases of Russian gas and oil.
After the call, Mr Xi said the two countries were “good neighbours that cannot be moved apart”.
“China-Russia relations have strong internal driving force and unique strategic value, and are not aimed at, nor are they influenced by, any third party,” Mr Xi said, according to the official readout published by Chinese state media.
According to a Kremlin statement, Mr Putin also told the Chinese president “about recent Russian-American contacts”.
Reuters
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