French President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday that he warned President Trump to be “cautious” when dealing with negotiations to end Russia's war with Ukraine.
“We want peace and I think President Trump's initiative is very positive, but my message was to say, “Be careful.” Because Ukraine needs substantial things…for the security of Europe and France.”
The French president encouraged his US counterpart during a “very strategic and decisive” meeting to “work together” with France and other European countries on how to “preserve security guarantees.” He said.
Macron also emphasized to Trump that all countries involved must “ensure that this peace is respected by Russia.” One of his biggest fears as negotiations led by the Trump administration are to end a brutal three-year war.
“In 2014, we had a ceasefire with Russia, but experience can tell you. I was in charge of tracking the ceasefire with Germany, so I was violated every time by Russia. , Macron spoke about the ceasefire signed after Russian President Vladimir Putin's army invaded and annexed Crimea in 2014.
Macron, 47, argued that it was a “lack of credibility in group deterrence” after the 2014 peace agreement that led to Putin's February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
“I think it's at least possible to set an armistice and start negotiations for sustainable peace,” the French president continued. “But we need something substantial for Ukraine, for their safety and reliability for the Europeans and the United States.”
Macron called for the United States to be “backstop” if European troops were sent to Ukraine to act as peacekeepers and attacked by Russian troops.
Despite his concerns, Macron suggested that all parties could agree to a ceasefire in “the coming weeks.”
“For me, the sequence is: negotiations between the US and Russia, the US and Ukraine… If we're not respected, then the best evidence of the fact that Russia is not serious, it's aerial and sea infrastructure. I'll stop it,” Macron said. “During this period, we will negotiate security guarantees, land and territory and reconstruction. At the end of this period there will be a peace treaty and peace agreement.”
Macron supports the transaction that grants US rights to Ukraine's important and rare earth minerals worth hundreds of billions of dollars in Ukraine, as it will be one of the best ways to have a US commitment to Ukraine's sovereignty, and thus grants US rights to the US rights worth hundreds of billions of dollars of Ukraine's important and rare earth minerals, Macron said. It shows that you are doing it.
“For me, this is something we have to negotiate and finalize,” Macron said. “Clearly, since Ukraine's agreement and this is European security, I think we have a deal if we can do so with the European agreement and this solidarity agreement as a backstop. .”
