After launching the Coalition of the Willing in support of Kiev, Emmanuel Macron gets straight to the point. He knows that it is necessary to speak directly with Vladimir Putin to bring an end to the war in Ukraine.
Macron: “It is useful to talk to Putin again”
The head of the Elysée, like many European leaders, played an observer role in the negotiations carried out by the United States with Russia, noting the low level of trust that the administration has towards Brussels. Thus, Macron takes on a new challenge to redeem the weak European position. The French president wants to reopen a dialogue with the Kremlin leader, because it would be “newly useful” for him and the Europeans to talk to Putin. At the end of the European Council – which established a 90 billion euro loan to Ukraine without using Russian assets – Macron recalled how the United States’ diplomatic confrontation with Russia is putting the European Union in a corner. “I see that there are people who are talking to Vladimir Putin,” Macron said, referring in particular to US President Donald Trump. “So I think we, Europeans and Ukrainians, have an interest in finding the framework to resume this discussion in the right form. Otherwise, we argue among ourselves with the negotiators who will discuss with the Russians alone, which is not optimal.”
Macron’s doubts to Zelensky: “The US could betray Ukraine”
Trump’s emissaries are currently holding a series of separate talks, on the one hand with Moscow and on the other with the Ukrainians and Europeans, in the hope of reaching an agreement. “There is a cycle going on. Either we get a solid and lasting peace, with the necessary guarantees, which would be fantastic, and in any case at that point we will sit at the negotiating table,” the French president suggested.
Trump’s pressure on Kiev
Macron therefore wants to fill the void by positioning himself as an interlocutor with Moscow. A void currently covered by the US leader, who is pressing Kiev. Ukraine is being asked to accept a plan that would essentially deprive it of Donbass. The territorial question is the main stumbling block when considering Ukraine, which asks for – and seems able to obtain – security guarantees for the possible post-war scenario. “I hope Ukraine moves quickly. Russia is there, but every time “Ukraine” takes too long, the Russians change their minds.” Trump continues to see the end of the war as ‘near’, but the negotiations, however, are not yet very far from the goal.
