France’s Macron Warned Other Leaders About Potential Trump Betrayal
French President Emmanuel Macron warned Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and other European leaders in a phone call that Donald Trump could betray Ukraine.
A transcript of Monday’s call to develop a strategy to protect Ukraine was leaked to the German newspaper. The Spiegel and published Thursday. Macron, Zelenskiy, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, Finnish President Alexander Stubb and other European leaders all participated and discussed U.S. negotiating efforts to end the Russo-Ukrainian war.
“It is possible that the United States will betray Ukraine on the territorial issue without clarity on security guarantees,” Macron said, stressing that there was “a great danger” for Zelensky. German leader Merz also expressed his reservations, telling Zelenskiy that Trump’s hand-picked negotiators, Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff, are “playing games with you and with us.”
As European leaders have expressed concerns about U.S. policy in Ukraine, this transcript is the clearest indication of what they think of the Trump administration and its efforts. The Finnish president gets along well with Trump in public, but he nevertheless said: “We must not leave Ukraine and Volodymyr alone with these guys,” referring to Witkoff and Kushner.
“I agree with Alexander that we must protect Volodymyr,” NATO Secretary General Rutte added.
Late last month, the Trump administration presented a 28-point peace plan to resolve the conflict seen as “Russian.”wish list” and seemed to be translated from Russian. Under the plan, Ukraine would give up significant territory, refrain from joining NATO and limit the size of its military.
After Ukraine’s intervention, a new plan was published with a 19 point shortcut, to which Russia did not agree. But it seems Europeans are worried that Trump will defer to Russia and abandon Ukraine. past eventsWho can blame them?
