Peace must not mean surrendering Ukraine, Macron says alongside Trump | Global News Avenue

French President Emmanuel Macron said any peace agreement in Ukraine must come with security as he met with U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House about war talks.

“This kind of peace cannot be a surrender of Ukraine, and it never means a ceasefire without guarantees,” he said in a joint press conference after Monday’s meeting.

Trump, who did not mention security, said the cost and burden of ensuring peace in Ukraine must be paid by European countries, not just the United States.

Macron replied that Europe understood the need to share the burden of security more equitably, adding that negotiations on the third anniversary of the Russian invasion showed a path forward.

The two exchanged enthusiastic words throughout Monday, but some obvious differences emerged on the issue of the end of the war in Ukraine while talking to journalists in the Oval Office, and then held 40 minutes of news later that day Press conference.

Including security assurances in any peace agreement is one area of ​​difference, that is, the potential steps to end war.

Trump said the war could end “within weeks” and he hopes to cease fire as soon as possible, adding that he would visit Russia to meet President Vladimir Putin once agreed.

However, Macron pushed for a more thoughtful approach, involving a truce, followed by a broader peace agreement that included clear assurances for long-term protection of Ukraine.

“We want quick peace, but we don’t want a weak agreement,” he said.

However, the two did agree that any peace agreement should include the deployment of European peacekeeping forces to Ukraine. The suggestion has been completely rejected by Russia.

“They won’t go along the front line. They won’t be part of any conflict. They will be there to ensure peace is respected,” Macron said in the Oval Office.

Trump then said Russian President Vladimir Putin would accept this. “I asked him this question in particular. He had no questions about it,” he said.

The French president praised Trump’s efforts to interact with Putin in recent weeks, saying “there is a good reason” to do so.

Trump refused to call Putin a “dictator” after using the term last week to describe the Ukrainian president and said he planned to meet with Russian leaders after calling him last week.

“I don’t know when to speak,” Trump said. “At some point, I’ll meet President Putin.”

He also invited Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to the White House to reach a deal to share some of the country’s natural resources. “He may come this week or next week,” Trump said. “I would love to see him.”

Although there are no public disagreements between Trump and Macron, the French president did interrupt his U.S. counterpart in the Oval Office to overturn his claims of EU aid to Ukraine.

“No, frankly, we paid. We paid 60% of the total effort,” Macron said.

Trump replied: “If you believe it, I can.”

The meeting between the two leaders was on the third anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Zelensky started a new press release, marking “Three years of absolute heroism for the Ukrainians” and then held an event with global representatives.

During the events in Kiev, many world leaders participated “We hope we can end this war this year,” he said.

Other leaders, including from the UK, Germany and Japan, spoke through video links. There is no representative of the United States.

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier talked about the recent warming relationship between Moscow and Washington.

“Russia may have gained open ears in the White House, but they did not gain an inch of legality,” he said.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told participants: “We must speed up the delivery of weapons and ammunition to Ukraine, saying that war remains “the most central and most important crisis in the future of Europe.”

Also on Monday The United States voted twice with Russia at the United Nations Related to the Ukrainian War.

The two countries first opposed a resolution condemning Moscow’s actions and supporting Ukraine’s territorial integrity, which was eventually adopted by the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York.

UNGA members supported the European resolution with 93 votes, but the United States did not abstain, but actually voted against it with Russia, Israel, North Korea, Sudan, Belarus, Hungary and 11 other states.

Subsequently, the United States and Russia supported a U.S. takeoff resolution at the UN Security Council, calling for an end to the conflict, but did not include criticism of Russia.

The Security Council resolution passed only two key American allies, namely Britain and France, abstained from the vote after vetoing the revised wording.

Meanwhile, the EU and the UK imposed brand new sanctions on Russia on Monday. EU sanctions are the 16th round since the Russian invasion, targeting Russia’s aluminum exports, and its so-called “shadow fleet” allegedly used to bypass sanctions.

Britain imposed sanctions on machine tools and electronic equipment used by the Russian military, as well as the North Korean Defense Minister who allegedly deployed more than 11,000 troops to deploy war to Russia.