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Agence France-Presse

French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday supported Donald Trump’s outreach to Russia over Ukraine but called on the United States to back any European troop deployment as a form of security guarantee.
“We want a quick deal but not a fragile one,” Macron said at a joint news conference at the White House.
Macron flew to Moscow weeks before Russia invaded Ukraine three years ago in an unsuccessful bid to dissuade Russian President Vladimir Putin. Like then-US president Joe Biden, Macron soon cut off contact with Putin.
Macron said there was “a big change” in that there was a new US administration.


“There is good reason for President Trump to re-engage with President Putin,” Macron said.
But Macron said he shared Europe’s own experience in negotiating after an earlier conflict in Ukraine a decade ago.
“In 2014, our predecessors negotiated peace with President Putin, but because of the lack of guarantees and especially security guarantees President Putin violated this peace,” Macron said.
“So this is why being strong and having deterrence capacities is the only way to be sure it will be respected,” he said.
Macron, who has considered sending French troops to Ukraine to preserve any peace, said it was critical for the United States to offer support.
“A lot of my European colleagues are ready to be engaged, but we do need this American backup, because this is part of the credibility of the security guarantees,” he said.

Trump and Biden both ruled out sending US troops to Ukraine, and Trump has pressed for Kyiv to sign a deal to hand over mineral wealth to the United States.
Macron said: “I think we should never say I will never send boots on the ground, because you give a blank cheque to violate any type of commitment”.
In an interview with Fox News after the meeting with Trump, Macron said a truce between Moscow and Kyiv “could be done in the weeks to come”.
The friendly tone of the Oval Office meeting came despite many European nations fearing that Trump’s recent embrace of Russian talking points on Ukraine could herald the end of the 80-year-old transatlantic alliance.
Trump sent shock waves around the world when he declared his readiness to resume diplomacy with Russia and to hold talks about the future of Ukraine without the involvement of European allies or Kyiv.
It sent European leaders beating a path to Trump’s door, led by Macron. The two leaders earlier on Monday dialled in together from the Oval Office to a call with the heads of the G7 leading economies and Zelensky.

The French president last week said he would tell the Republican: “You cannot be weak in the face of President Putin”.
Trump had hit back last Friday saying that both Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer – the leaders of Europe’s two nuclear powers – had done “nothing” to try to end the Ukraine war over the past three years.
In recent days Macron has tried to coordinate a European response to Washington’s sudden policy shift.
Macron is representing the European Union as a whole during his visit, after meeting leaders across the continent, including Moscow-friendly Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, the presidential adviser said.
The French leader aims to persuade Trump to continue some US support for Ukraine, respecting its sovereignty.
Macron and Starmer, who will visit Trump on Thursday, coordinated on messaging before the French president’s departure for the United States at the weekend.
Britain and France have also discussed the deployment of European forces in Ukraine after a peace agreement is reached to deter Russia from future attacks.
“The idea is to deploy soldiers to a second line, not on the front line. This could be combined with a multinational operation, with non-European contingents,” said a French source close to the discussions.
Macron and Starmer are expected to ask Trump to provide “solid security guarantees” for the deployed forces, and possibly logistics or intelligence.
US National Security Adviser Mike Waltz told reporters on Monday that “we expect to talk quite a bit about the security guarantees that Macron has put on the table”.
Trump and Macron would also discuss the thorny issue of trade with the European Union, with the US president threatening sweeping tariffs against the bloc, said Waltz.


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Ukraine war

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French President Emmanuel Macron and US President Donald Trump. Photo: EPA-EFE

French President Emmanuel Macron and US President Donald Trump during a press conference. Photo: Reuters

Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris on February 17. Photo: Reuters

Trump shakes transatlantic alliance with sudden Russia pivot

US President Donald Trump at the Conservative Political Action Conference annual meeting in National Harbor, Maryland on Saturday. Photo: Reuters

US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir in Helsinki, Finland in 2018. File photo: TNS 

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron. Photo: AP

Ukraine’s Zelensky offers to give up presidency for Nato membership

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at a press conference in Kyiv on Sunday. Photo: AP

The aftermath of a Russian air strike in Kryvyi Rih, central Ukraine. Photo: State Emergency Service of Ukraine via EPA-EFE

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday. Photo: AP

Russian President Vladimir Putin at a wreath-laying ceremony in Moscow. Photo: Sputnik via Reuters

US refuses to blame Russia for Ukraine war, splitting with European allies at UN

The results of voting on a draft resolution on Ukraine at the UN General Assembly. Photo: afp


Members of the UN Security Council cast a vote. Photo: Reuters

French President Emmanuel Macron and US President Donald Trump. Photo: Reuters

EU leaders to head to Kyiv, Macron to visit Trump in bid to shore up support for Ukraine

French President Emmanuel Macron, right, and British prime Minister Keir Starmer at the Elysee Palace in Paris on Monday for a meeting on the Ukraine war. Photo: AFP / Getty Images / TNS

US expects mineral deal with Ukraine to be signed this week

The open pit mine of Zavallievsky Graphite in Zavallia, Ukraine. Photo: Reuters

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World

United States & Canada

Russia & Central Asia

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American and French leaders display stark differences on Ukraine despite friendly veneer


American and French leaders display stark differences on Ukraine despite friendly veneer.
