French President Emmanuel Macron will brief fellow EU leaders Wednesday on his talks with US President Donald Trump, ahead of an emergency summit on European support for Ukraine.
Antonio Costa, who heads the European Council representing the bloc’s 27 member states, announced on X he had convened a videoconference with Macron to prepare for the March 6 leaders’ talks.
Europe has scrambled for a unified response since Trump two weeks ago declared his readiness to negotiate with Russia — and without European involvement — on ending the three-year-old Ukraine war.
Despite a veneer of cordiality, the transatlantic rift over Ukraine was on display during Macron’s talks with Trump on Monday.
The French leader warned at the White House afterward that peace cannot mean the “surrender” of Ukraine.
“We want a quick deal but not a fragile one,” said Macron, who insisted any settlement must include US security guarantees for Kyiv — to prevent any future Russian assault.
On Monday, the United States sided with Russia in two votes at the United Nations to avoid condemning Moscow’s campaign against Ukraine — a seismic shift from the stance of the previous US administration.
Trump’s outreach to Russia has sparked fears that it could herald the end of US support for Kyiv and a major change in attitude toward the rest of Europe.
Next week’s talks in Brussels will focus on supporting Kyiv and bolstering Europe’s defenses after Trump’s opening to Moscow — at what Costa called “a defining moment for Ukraine and European security.”
Differences over Ukraine talks
During a day of talks between Trump and Macron, the two leaders showed a friendly rapport based on years of good ties. But Macron made clear he disagreed with Trump on some key issues.
Trump expressed a desire for a ceasefire as soon as possible and said he was trying to arrange one between Ukraine and Russia. He said he could go to Moscow to meet Putin once a deal is reached.
Macron, on the other hand, suggested a truce and then a peace deal that includes security guarantees.
“We want peace, he wants peace. We want peace swiftly, but we don’t want a weak agreement,” Macron told reporters.
The two leaders did agree, however, on the deployment of European peacekeeping forces once a peace deal is eventually reached.
“They would not be along the front lines. They would not be part of any conflict. They would be there to ensure that the peace is respected,” Macron said earlier in the Oval Office with Trump.
Trump said he accepts the concept, as does Putin.
“Yeah, he will accept that,” Trump said about Putin’s position on a peacekeeping force. “I specifically asked him that question. He has no problem with it.”
Ukraine minerals deal
Meanwhile, Trump reported progress on reaching a revenue-sharing agreement with Ukraine on Ukrainian minerals as a way to recoup the cost of weaponry pumped into Ukraine by the previous Biden administration. Trump said he expected Zelensky to come to the United States this week or next week to seal the agreement.
Trump and his team have been negotiating a minerals revenue-sharing agreement with Ukraine to recover some of the money that the previous Biden administration had sent to Kyiv in the form of weapons.
Zelensky last week rejected US demands for $500 billion in mineral wealth from Ukraine to repay Washington for wartime aid, saying the United States had supplied nowhere near that sum so far and offered no specific security guarantees in the agreement.
Trump, asked if Ukraine might have to cede some territory to Russia, said, “Well, we’re going to see.” Macron said any deal should include sovereignty for Ukraine.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer also is to visit Trump later in the week, amid alarm in Europe over Trump’s hardening stance toward Ukraine and overtures to Moscow on the conflict.
