President-elect Donald Trump says Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy is ready for “peace” as he mentions talks with world leaders and Jill Biden during visit to Paris to reopen Notre Dame Cathedral he said.
The president-elect on Sunday revealed details of his meetings with world leaders on his first overseas trip since winning a second term, including tripartite talks with French President Emmanuel Macron and President Zelenskiy.
“He wants peace,” Trump told The Post in a phone interview. “That’s new.
“He wants a ceasefire,” he added. “He wants peace. He didn't go into details. He thinks it's time, and Putin should think it's time because he's lost — 700,000 people. It's time to lose it. It won't end until there's peace.”
He said he had discussed with Zelensky how to end the bloody conflict, which has been going on since 2022.
“We're trying to figure out how to end that stupid war,” he said.
President Trump also pointed out that his Truth Social posts mentioned Russia in connection with the collapse of the Syrian government.
“What happened was that Russia was unable to act proactively because everyone was mired in this terrible war in Ukraine that should never have happened,” he said. Ta.
Trump also said he had spoken to Macron about NATO and reiterated that he believes the alliance should “pay its fair share.”
“I said NATO is good as long as it pays its bills, but they have to pay their bills, because when I got involved with NATO, no one paid. But after I got involved, they paid for it,” the president-elect said.
President Trump said of Macron, “He agrees with me.'' “He was a good man and did a good job. I said to him, “You have no idea what a great job you did in that chapel.'' That's very difficult. My bones break. ”
President Trump said his chat with First Lady Jill Biden inside the cathedral was also a positive interaction, despite a long history of badmouthing each other during the two election cycles.
“Very nice. She couldn't have been more gracious,” President Trump said of the meeting.
“It's politics. You have to get used to it,” he said of past political altercations. “She was very kind and we had a really fun conversation.”
The former president stole the headlines with his firm handshake with Macron from above.
“Just a solid shake. He understands that. Just a solid shake,” he said of the shake.
Regarding their meeting with Prince William, Duchess Kate said they had a “great conversation” about the royal family, as she and King Charles are both recovering from cancer.
President Trump said, “I had a great conversation with the prince.'' When I asked him about his wife, he said she was doing well. So I asked him about his father and it was sad because his father was fighting so hard and he loves his father and he loves his wife. We had a great talk for 30 minutes, just over 30 minutes. We had a great, great talk. ”
She also commented on the prince's beauty as follows: He looked really very handsome last night. Do some people look better in real life? he looked great. He seemed really nice, so I told him so. ”
Trump also said his meeting with Meloni was “great” and that the Italian leader had “a lot of energy.”
President Trump said of Meloni that he “spent a lot of time with her,” noting that they had dinner together at a reception attended by 60 world leaders. “I'm telling you, she's really alive. She's amazing.”
“We've become very good friends,” he said of the group of world leaders who visited the cathedral, noting that it had been a “similar group” for four years, adding that they hoped to “move the world a little bit.” “I hope it can be corrected,” he said.
President Trump said the newly reopened French cathedral “represented one of the ultimate places for religion and Christianity” until it burned down five years ago.
“I thought it was great. I think they did a great job with the cathedral. It's better than it was 900 years ago,” President Trump said after returning to Mar-a-Lago.
“They were able to clean the stone. It was very dark. I was there and it was very dark for 900 years. Now it's a clean, light, exact replica.” he said, insisting that the design choice to maintain its authenticity was “the right decision”.
“I thought it was a really sad day, the day the world was on fire. You know, this represents one of the ultimate places for religion and Christianity, and I thought it was a really sad day. I was invited by the Prime Minister and he treated our country very well and did a great job.”
