Donald Trump’s American state secretary of state Marco Rubio and special correspondent, Steve Witkoff, flew to France to meet Emmanuel Macron. The French president will discuss the two of Ukraine, in a moment of stall in the peace negotiations between Washington and Moscow. The American State Department stressed that the objective of the interviews is to work to achieve “the goal of President Trump to put an end to the war between Ukraine and Russia and arrest the massacre”.
Kiev delegations in Paris
The announcement of the visit pushed the head of the Ukrainian presidential administration, Andriï Irmak, to also go to the French capital, accompanied by the foreign minister Andriï Sybiga and the defense minister Roustem Oumerov. Irmak, the right arm of President Volodymyr Zelensky, said on Telegram that he had planned a series of “bilateral and multilateral” meetings with the allies of Kiev, citing France, Germany and the United Kingdom.
“Meetings with the United States representatives are also planned, who are currently in France,” he added. According to the German chancellery, in Paris there is also a German delegation composed of the security councilor of the Jens Plötner government and the political director of the Foreign Ministry Günter Sauter.
Meanwhile, Ukraine and the United States “have achieved good results in negotiations” for the agreement on minerals, said Zelensky in his evening speech, mentioned by RBC Ukraine. “The basic legal aspects are almost completed and, if everything continues to proceed with the same speed and constructiveness, the agreement will bring economic results to both our countries,” he explained.
The breakfast of the willing
Rubio’s third trip to Europe from his settlement comes after months of tensions between Washington and European partners, worried by Trump’s rapprochement in Putin. The US president has promised to resolve the conflict that began in 2022, but so far with poor results. In parallel, Paris and London guide a “coalition of the willing”, made up of about thirty countries, which works at a “reinsurance force” for a possible ceasefire.
But a multinational military contingent, hoped for by Kiev, remains a red line for Moscow. Witkoff has already met Putin three times, the last one at the beginning of the month. On Monday 14 April he claimed that the talks were “on the point” of making progress. Meanwhile, the Ukrainian fights continue: on Sunday a Russian bombardment on Soumy killed at least 35 civilians, while on Wednesday 16 April a “massive attack of Russian drones” caused three deaths and 30 injured in Dnipro.
Iran on the agenda
Today’s talks “will also be an opportunity to discuss customs duties and the situation in the Middle East, with the aim of dampening the situation in the region”, explained the Elisha. The question of Iranian nuclear power could also be on the table. Witkoff will fly to Rome on Saturday for a second round of discussions with the Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.
The two already met last Saturday in Oman for 45 minutes and described the interviews as positive, while recognizing that an agreement is still far away. On Monday Trump said he was willing to bomb the Iranian nuclear plants if an agreement will not be reached.
