The presidents of the United States and France met in the White House in coincidence with the third anniversary of the war in Ukraine in order to address the perspectives on how to end that conflict. Trump said he hopes to meet with the Ukrainian president in the next few days.
The president of the United States, Donald Trump, and his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, argued on Monday the prospects to reach an agreement that ends war in Ukraine, amid differences between European governments and the new US administration.
Trump He received Macron at the Oval office from the White House, from where he said he felt confident that “good things to peace are past” and added that the United States is near an agreement on minerals with Ukraine which could be used in US aerospace, medical and technological industries.
“Our goal is to achieve a fire as soon as possible and, ultimately, a permanent peace. My meeting today with President Macron was another important step in that regard,” Trump said during a press conference after the meeting .
The French president, on the other hand, stressed that Ukraine “has fought in recent years for his independence and for his sovereignty, but also for our collective security.”
Macron added that a peace agreement “should not mean the surrender of Ukraine or a high fire without guarantees. This peace must respect Ukrainian sovereignty and allow Ukraine to negotiate with other interested parties on the issues that affect it.”
The meeting between both leaders occurred on the same day the third anniversary of the war in Ukraine is commemorated.
The US president recalled Europe with repeated criticism to the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, for not negotiating an end to war and, in principle, rejecting the agreement.
Trump added that he could meet with the Ukrainian President at the end of this week or next week to seal the agreement. “You can come this week or next week to sign the agreement, which would be good,” Trump said about Zelenskyy. In addition, he added that he would also meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin at some point.
Macron said that Europe was prepared to provide security guarantees to Ukraine, including the peace forces, in case of a fire.
The French president explained that it would be “peaceful, not combat” deployments that would be limited but would serve to “show solidarity.”
“I have also talked to all our allies, and there are European and non -European allies that are willing to participate in that effort,” Macron added.
Trump pointed out that the United States supported the idea of sending European peace troops and said he had raised the concept to Putin and that Putin would accept it.
Putin, on the other hand, said on Monday that Russia does not oppose Europe's participation in peace conversations between Russia and the United States but said Brussels had previously rejected a dialogue with Moscow.
When Trump was asked if Ukraine should be willing to give up territory to Russia as part of a negotiated end to war, he said: “We'll see” and pointed out that conversations were barely starting.
Macron became the first European leader to visit Trump since he regained power a month ago. He was in the White House for a morning session that lasted an hour and 45 minutes, including both leaders who participated in a videoconference with other G7 leaders about Ukraine.
The French president had advanced that he intended to tell Trump not to show weakness against the Russian president during the negotiations led by the United States to end the war in Ukraine is in the joint interest of Americans and Europeans.
European leaders have been dismayed by Trump's decision to send senior advisors for preliminary conversations with Russian officials in Saudi Arabia without the presence of Ukrainian or European officials at the table.
(With Reuters information)