Macron and Trump disagree over aid and securing a lasting peace after US president says Russian counterpart has ‘no problem’ with European forces in Ukraine
Emmanuel Macron, the French president, has warned Donald Trump against a “surrender” of Ukraine as the US president said Russia’s leader Vladimir Putin “wants to make a deal” that could include European peacekeepers.
The transatlantic rift over the war was apparent on Monday as Trump and Macron – the first European leader to visit the White House since Trump regained power – disagreed over aid and efforts to secure a lasting peace in Ukraine.
The meeting was cordial, at times even warm, but came just hours after the US voted against a United Nations resolution drafted by Ukraine and the European Union condemning Russia for its invasion.
Trump, who last week branded Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy a “dictator” and falsely blamed Ukraine for starting the war, told reporters in the Oval Office that Putin would accept European peacekeepers in Ukraine as part of a potential deal to end the three-year conflict.
Trump said he saw no objection to such a move, adding that he had raised the idea with Putin. “Yeah, he will accept it,” the US president said. “I’ve asked him that question.
“Look, if we do this deal, he’s not looking for more war. He doesn’t mind. But I’ve specifically asked him that question. He has no problem with it.”
Later, at a joint press conference in the east room, Trump touted his team’s positive conversations with Russia. “Before I came here there was no communication with Russia whatsoever and Russia wasn’t answering calls. They were not talking to anybody and people accepted that.
“But when I got here one of the first calls I made was to President Putin and we were treated with great respect and they want to end this war, so that’s a big thing.”
He added: “I really believe that he wants to make a deal. I may be wrong, but he wants to make a deal.”
The US president claimed he had made more progress in the past month than was made in the previous three years. “I believe that Emmanuel agrees with me on many of the most important issues,” he said. “Europe must take a central role in ensuring the long-term security of Ukraine.”
Macron acknowledged that he and Trump had “made very substantive steps forward” in their discussion. But he pointedly described Russia as the “aggressor” in Ukraine and was appreciably more cautious.
He told reporters: “This peace must not mean a surrender of Ukraine. It must not mean a ceasefire without guarantees. This peace must allow for Ukrainian sovereignty and allow Ukraine to negotiate with other stakeholders.”
The French president added: “I think it’s super important to go to the peace. But my strong point was to say, let’s try to get something first which can be assessed, checked and verified … We want peace swiftly but we don’t want an agreement that is weak.”
Earlier, the pair clashed directly when Trump made false claims about the funding of the war. He said: “Just so you understand, Europe is loaning the money to Ukraine. They’re getting their money back.”
Macron leaned over to touch Trump’s arm and interjected: “No, in fact, to be frank, we paid. We paid 60% of the total effort. It was like the US: loans, guarantees, grants.”
Trump responded: “If you believe that, it’s OK with me. They get their money back, and we don’t. But now we do.”
Trump and his team have been negotiating a minerals revenue-sharing agreement with Ukraine to recoup some of the money that the previous administration had sent to Kyiv to repel Russia.
Trump described the minerals deal as “very close” and said he might meet Zelenskyy soon to seal the agreement. “He may come in this week or next week to sign the agreement, which would be nice,” Trump said, adding that he would also be meeting Putin at some point.
Zelenskyy last week rejected US demands for $500bn in mineral wealth from Ukraine to repay Washington for wartime aid, contending that the US had supplied nowhere near that sum so far and offered no specific security guarantees in the agreement.
Asked if Ukraine should be willing to cede territory to Russia as part of a negotiated end to the conflict, Trump said: “We’ll see,” and noted that talks were just beginning.
In an interview with Fox News after his visit with Trump, Macron said a truce between Ukraine and Russia “could be done in the weeks to come”. He also praised Zelenskyy’s leadership and said it was crucial for Trump to meet with the Ukrainian president.
Meanwhile, Putin on Monday signalled that he was not opposed to Europe’s involvement in the talks. In a televised interview reported by Agence France-Presse, the Russian president said: “Not only European [countries] but other countries too have the right and can take part.”
The British prime minister, Keir Starmer, is to visit Trump later in the week, amid alarm in Europe over Trump’s hardening stance toward Ukraine and overtures to Moscow on the three-year-old conflict.
That alarm deepened on Monday as the UN Security Council on Monday adopted a US-drafted resolution that takes a more conciliatory position towards Russia. Previously, the 15-member body had been deadlocked because Russia holds a veto.
The US voted against a separate, Europe-backed UN general assembly resolution condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, siding with North Korea, Belarus and other Russia-aligned countries over European allies.
Sheldon Whitehouse, a Democratic senator who co-led a bipartisan delegation to the recent Munich security conference, said: “This vote is a disgrace. Trump’s senseless betrayal of the alliances that have kept Americans safe since World War Two and his fealty to the murderous aggressor Putin are a national security threat.”
Source: The Guardian
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