US President Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron demonstrated radically different approaches to Ukraine, thus revealing the differences between the United States and Europe in relation to Trump's efforts to quickly reach a ceasefire deal with Russia, Reuters reported, quoted by BTA.
During their meeting, Trump and Macron behaved friendly with each other, wanting to show that they have had good relations with each other for years.
However, Macron clearly expressed his disagreement with Trump on some key issues on the third anniversary of the invasion of Russian forces in Ukraine in 2022.
Trump refused to call Russian President Vladimir Putin a dictator after using that qualification last week in the address of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Macron said it was clear that Russia "is the aggressor" in the conflict.
"President Putin has violated the peace," Emmanuel Macron said at a joint news conference with Donald Trump.
Trump expressed his desire for a ceasefire to be reached as soon as possible and said he was trying to negotiate one between Ukraine and Russia. The US president said he could visit Moscow to meet with Putin once a deal is reached.
Macron called for a more considered approach, including first a ceasefire and then a peace agreement that would include security guarantees.
"We want peace, he wants peace. "We want peace quickly, but we don't want a weak agreement," Macron told reporters, explaining that any peace deal would have to be "assessed, verified and confirmed." The two leaders did, however, agree that European peacekeeping forces could be deployed in Ukraine once a peace deal is reached. "They won't be on the front lines. They won't be involved in any conflict. They will be there to ensure that peace is maintained," Macron said earlier during a meeting with Trump in the Oval Office. Trump said he agreed with the idea and that Putin would agree with it. "Yes, he will accept that. I specifically asked him that question." "He has no problem with that," Trump said of Putin's willingness to agree to deploy peacekeeping forces.
Macron, who became the first European leader to visit Trump since his return to the White House, called his conversation with the US president a "turning point" in the search for a more unified approach.
When asked whether Ukraine would have to cede some of its territory to Russia, Trump said: "Well, we'll see."
Macron said Ukraine's sovereignty must be guaranteed in any agreements reached.
Trump will meet with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer later this week.