US President Donald Trump and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron agreed Monday that the costs of securing the peace in Ukraine must be shared mutually by the US and Europe.
Addressing reporters at the White House after he met with Macron behind closed doors for over an hour, Trump said he was pleased that the French president “agrees with me on many of the most important issues,” including chiefly that it is “the right time” to end Russia’s war against Ukraine.
“I’m also pleased that President Macron agrees that the cost and burden of securing the peace must be borne by the nations of Europe, not alone by the United States, and Europe must take that central role in assuring the long-term security of Ukraine, which they want to do, and that’s not a very big step,” he said.
“The big step is what’s going to happen over the next few weeks,” he added, likely referring to ongoing peace talks.
Macron acknowledged that Europe must do more “for security in Europe, for defense in Europe, and to more fairly share the security burden that your country has been carrying for so many years.”
“Europe is very clear-eyed about this. We know what we need to do as Europeans, given the threats surrounding us and the responsibilities that we must shoulder,” he added. “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 regarding the issues that affects it.”
Macron said he and Trump discussed the deployment of European troops to Ukraine to secure any prospective peace deal brokered with Russia, maintaining they would be deployed after the deal is signed.
“Today, when we talk about troops, we’re talking about sending them in after we’ve negotiated a lasting peace, and once we have that solid, lasting peace, that’s part of an agreement signed by Ukraine, signed by Russia, and for which we will provide the guarantees,” he said. “We’ve worked on plans. We’ve worked with our militaries, not to the front lines, not to go into occupied territories, but as a show of support for peace signed by both sides, and that is a peace we will preserve.”
The French president said that during discussions with Russia, the Kremlin signaled that it “would be acceptable” for US forces to join the peacekeeping effort, calling the openness “a very important area of progress.” But Macron emphasized that “the question is whether or in what form the US will contribute.”
Macron maintained that “there is good reason” for Trump to engage directly with Russian President Vladimir Putin but cautioned that the Russian leader is not to be trusted, and “this is why being strong and having deterrence capacities is the only way to be sure” that any potential peace deal will be respected.
“I fully believe that there is a path forward. We share the same beliefs. We know what work needs to be done, and in the weeks to come, we will work on that. Our teams will come together in various formats to make sure that we have this solid, lasting peace with great strength,” he added.
Regarding a critical mineral deal that Trump has been seeking to sign with Ukraine, Macron said it “will be a good occasion for a first, very important meeting between” the American and Ukrainian leaders.
Trump for his part signaled an openness to ending the war via either a ceasefire or a “direct” peace agreement, calling the war “a horrible, bloody mess.”
“That’s a very interesting and horrible situation, and that could evolve into a third world war. We’re not going to let that happen,” he said.