French President Emmanuel Macron called on Monday evening for tougher sanctions against Russia if talks to end the war in Ukraine fail. He made the call after a summit at the White House with US President Donald Trump, his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky and other European leaders.
Referring to an announcement by Trump that he had proposed a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Zelenskyy, Macron stated that “if this process is rejected, we all agree that it is necessary to step up sanctions and put more pressure on Russia."
According to the French president, the issue of possible territorial concessions by Ukraine, a demand reiterated by Putin at a bilateral summit with Trump on Friday, was not discussed during the talks at the White House. These matters must be discussed bilaterally and trilaterally, he said. ‘Security guarantees are the priority.’
Zelenskyy, Putin to meet within two weeks?
Macron also said there would be no restrictions on the Ukrainian army in the event of a possible peace agreement.
The meeting between the Russian and Ukrainian presidents is expected to take place within two weeks, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz announced on Monday evening. Earlier, President Trump had announced that he had called Putin at the end of Monday's US-European summit to prepare for that meeting.
However, Finnish President Alexander Stubb was skeptical, noting that Putin could not be trusted. "It therefore remains to be seen whether he has the courage to come to a trilateral meeting,” Stubb said.
Security guarantees for Ukraine
Chancellor Merz gave Monday’s summit a positive assessment. His expectations had not only been met, but even exceeded, he said. Like other European leaders, he stressed that Ukraine must not be forced to make territorial concessions.
There was a very intensive discussion at the summit about security guarantees for Ukraine after a possible peace agreement. “We strongly welcomed President Trump's announcement to give Ukraine security guarantees,” Merz said.
The question of who will participate in these security guarantees, and to what extent, will have to be discussed between the European partners and the US government. It was clear that the whole of Europe must be involved in this, the German Chancellor added.
Europe on the frontline but the US will help - Trump
The extent to which the United States is willing to contribute to these security guarantees will also be discussed in the coming period, according to NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, who said sending troops to Ukraine had not been discussed.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s President said he had had a “very good” and “constructive” meeting with his US counterpart at the White House earlier on Monday - their "best meeting" thus far - and that they discussed “very sensitive issues.” He also stressed that his country’s security depended on both the US and Europe.
For his part, Trump promised that the US would be involved in Ukraine's future security. Western European nations were the first line of defence, he said, but the US would also be involved.
