Macron says he will tell Trump not to be weak with Putin

ISTANBUL

French President Emmanuel Macron said Thursday that he will tell his US counterpart Donald Trump not to show weakness toward Russian President Vladimir Putin, as it will make it harder to confront China and Iran.

Speaking during a live question and answer session held on the social media platform X, Macron said he would visit Washington next week to negotiate with Trump, adding they share the same “strategic interests.”

“I'm going to tell him: ‘You can't be weak in the face of President Putin. It's not you, it's not your trademark, it's not in your interest. How can you then be credible in the face of China if you are weak in the face of Putin?” he added.

He also responded to Trump’s description of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as a “dictator without elections,” emphasizing that Zelenskyy is the “legitimate" leader of Ukraine.

“The Ukrainian president was elected in free elections, which is not the case with Vladimir Putin, who has been killing his opponents and manipulating his elections for a long time,” he said, pointing to the difficulty of organizing elections in a country where “millions of Ukrainians have fled for their safety.”

“We're at war in some way, and we have to prepare for possible future wars and deter them,” Macron added.

He said their security and France's interests are “at stake” as the US and Russia begin negotiations on the Ukrainian conflict.

“Russia is a threat to Europeans if it continues to be predatory,” he said, reiterating the need to invest more in the defense and security of Europe as they “enter a new era.”

Macron also underscored that France does not intend to send troops to Ukraine at the moment.

“What we do not rule out, within a planned framework, with our allies, is the possibility of having forces which, once peace has been negotiated, could help to guarantee Ukraine's security,” he said.

Macron also stressed that no one “has the right to say that Ukraine does not have the right to join the EU or NATO.”

He added that he would be speaking by phone with Zelenskyy later Thursday.

Leaders from several major European countries met in Paris on Monday at Macron's invitation to discuss transatlantic relations, the situation in Ukraine, potential peace talks and European security.

US-European relations have grown tense after Trump initiated direct discussions with Putin about Ukraine peace talks, excluding European leaders.

At the Munich Security Conference over the weekend, Keith Kellogg, Trump’s special envoy for Russia and Ukraine, confirmed that Europeans would not be invited to planned US-Russia talks on Ukraine.

Adding to the tensions, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth suggested that European nations, rather than the US, should provide peacekeeping troops to Ukraine. He emphasized that any such deployment should be non-NATO and would not be covered under Article 5 of NATO’s collective defense clause, stressing that US troops would not be involved in any security guarantees.