French President Emmanuel Macron reaffirmed his commitment to Ukraine's sovereignty on the third anniversary of Russia's war against Ukraine in a joint press conference with U.S. President Donald Trump on Feb. 24.
"I'm going to tell him (Trump) 'You can't be weak with (Russian) President (Vladimir) Putin,'" Macron said on Feb. 20 in the lead-up to his meeting with Trump. Europe has scrambled to strengthen support for Ukraine in response to uncertainty in U.S. foreign policy.
Macron praised Trump for working on a minerals deal with President Volodymyr Zelensky, saying the deal is a commitment to Ukrainian sovereignty.
The minerals deal is an agreement in the works that would grant the U.S. preferential access to rare earth minerals among other resources such as oil in Ukraine.
The deal could reportedly grant the U.S. $500 billion in value stemming from 50% of revenue from resource extraction in Ukraine, but has garnered criticism from many for being a "colonial agreement."
"This peace must not mean a surrender of Ukraine. It must not mean a ceasefire without guarantees. This peace must allow for Ukrainian sovereignty and allow Ukraine to negotiate with other stakeholders," Macron said.
Macron said he and Trump both share the view that a lasting peace must be established swiftly in Ukraine. The French leader stressed the need to ensure a peace agreement is not weak in response to Trump's calls for a swift peace settlement that many fear would favor Russia.
Trump and Macron agreed on the importance of having European peacekeepers deployed to monitor a potential ceasefire in Ukraine.
"That is one of the great areas of progress that we’ve made during this trip and during this discussion," Macron said referring to the deployment of peacekeepers to Ukraine.
U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer is set to visit Trump in a similar meeting on Feb. 27.
The Kyiv Independent
(Updated: )
