French President Emmanuel Macron has said a truce between Ukraine and Russia could be agreed in the coming weeks.
He was speaking to Fox News in Washington following talks with Donald Trump at the White House on the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion.
The US president, who suggested the war could end “within weeks”, insisted Europe should shoulder the cost and burden of any peacekeeping deal for Ukraine.
Macron said any peace deal in Ukraine must “not be a surrender of Ukraine” and must be backed by security guarantees.
The arrival of Trump for a second term at the White House was a “game changer”, the French leader said.
He said he believed it was “feasible” to talk about a truce in the war and the start of negotiations for a sustainable peace within weeks.
Macron said he had spoken to 30 other European leaders and allies and many of them were willing to be part of security guarantees for Ukraine.
He was, he said, working with British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer on a proposal to send troops to the region.
“Not to go to the front line, not to go in confrontation, but to be in some locations, being defined by the treaty, as a presence to maintain this peace and our collective credibility with the US backup,” Macron said.
Negotiations on an end to the fighting, he added, would cover “security guarantees, land and territories”.
One of the best ways to secure a US commitment to Ukrainian sovereignty, he said, would be through a deal on critical minerals, currently being negotiated by Washington and Kyiv.
In a further sign of Washington’s shift on the global stage a US-drafted resolution which adopted a neutral stance on the conflict was adopted, by the UN Security Council. It was supported by Russia but with France and the UK abstaining.
At a joint news conference following his meeting with Macron on Monday, Trump did not mention security guarantees but said the cost and burden of securing peace in Ukraine must be paid for by European nations and not just the US.
Macron responded that Europe understood the need to “more fairly share the security burden” and added that Monday’s talks had shown a path forward.
Trump said he wanted a ceasefire as soon as possible, adding that he would visit Russia to meet President Vladimir Putin once one was agreed.
Macron, however, pushed a more considered approach involving a truce and then a broader peace deal that would include clear guarantees for protecting Ukraine long term.
“We want peace swiftly but we don’t want an agreement that is weak,” he said.
The pair did agree, however, that any peace deal should include the deployment of European peacekeeping forces in Ukraine. That suggestion has been rejected outright by Russia.
“They would not be along the front lines. They would not be part of any conflict. They would be there to ensure that the peace is respected,” Macron said in the Oval Office.
Trump then said Russian President Vladimir Putin would accept that. “I specifically asked him that question. He has no problem with it,” he said.
The French president praised Trump’s efforts to engage with Putin in recent weeks, saying there had been “good reason” for him to do so.
Trump declined to call Putin a “dictator” after using the term last week to describe Ukraine’s president.
“I don’t know when we’ll speak,” Trump said. “At some point I’ll be meeting with President Putin.”
He also invited Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky to the White House to conclude a deal to share some of the country’s natural resources. “He may come in this week or next week,” Trump said. “I’d love to meet him.”
While there were no moments of open disagreement between Trump and Macron, the French president did interrupt his US counterpart in the Oval Office to push back on his claim that EU aid to Ukraine was all in the form of loans.
“No, to be frank, we paid. We paid 60% of the total effort,” Macron said.
“If you believe that, it’s OK with me,” Trump replied.
Zelensky attended an event with global representatives in Kyiv where he said “we hope that we can finish this war this year”.
Other leaders, including from the UK, Germany and Japan, spoke by video link. There was no US representation.
German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier addressed the recently warming relations between Moscow and Washington.
“Russia may have gained an open ear in the White House but they have not gained an inch of legitimacy,” he said.
European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen told attendees: “We must speed up the delivery of weapons and ammunition.”
She said the war remained “the most central and consequential crisis for Europe’s future”.
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