Trump: "I will welcome Zelensky in the Oval Office"

On February 24, US President Donald Trump received French President Emmanuel Macron at the White House. After Angela Merkel left, Macron took over the leadership in Europe. This meeting in Washington was especially significant at a time when the US has openly sidelined Europe in war negotiations.

During the meeting, Donald Trump made a number of statements. In particular, Ukrainian President Zelensky said that he would sign an agreement on mineral resources: “Zelensky could be here this week or next week. I would love to welcome him to the Oval Office,” Trump said. According to him, Washington and Kiev are close to reaching an agreement on mineral resources, as well as other issues.

Trump said that the parties are working on an agreement on resources. It seems that the US and Ukraine are working to smooth it over after Zelensky said that he would not sign the first agreement brokered by the US Treasury Secretary.

Trump once again stressed that young, beautiful people are dying in the war and that it must be stopped. “I think we can end the war in a few weeks, if we are smart. If we are not smart, everything will continue, we will continue to lose young, beautiful people. They should not die, we do not want that,” he said during a meeting with US President Macron. “I will not allow the escalation to continue and the start of World War III,” the Republican added.

Many noted that Trump has become accustomed to saying a new deadline for ending the war - “this week.” Just like during the election campaign, he said that he would end the war in a day. Journalists asked Kiev and Moscow for an explanation on this issue. The Kremlin said that it would be nice for the White House to provide an explanation on this issue. Zelensky said on February 23 that the war would definitely not end this week.

What did Macron say?

After Trump actively began negotiating the war in Ukraine and openly took a position favorable to Russia, Macron and the Europeans agreed to continue to help Ukraine independently of the United States. When Trump began to threaten Zelensky, Macron called an emergency meeting of European leaders to discuss security issues on the continent.

Macron assessed the meeting with Trump positively, praising the US president's initiative to end the war, but his words clearly indicated his opposition to Trump's recent rhetoric. For example, Macron said that "care must be taken during the negotiations." "Ukraine has gone through three very difficult years. They are defending their territory and sovereignty. We want peace. President Trump's initiatives are positive. But we must be careful during the negotiations, we must give Ukraine something concrete," Macron said.

Macron also presented Trump with a plan that France and Britain are ready to provide peace guarantees to Ukraine, as promised. “We have developed a plan for security guarantees for Ukraine. This could go as far as sending troops, and they don’t necessarily have to go to the front lines, but they will be sent as a guarantee,” Macron said.

“May 9 is too early”

A few days ago, there were reports that the US president was going to Moscow for the Victory Parade on May 9, where Putin, with Trump in attendance, would announce Russia’s victory over Ukraine. Trump denied these rumors that day. He was also asked about this during his meeting with Macron. “I’ll go to Moscow when everything is in order. May 9 is too early,” Trump said.

The US president was asked if the peace agreement would stipulate that Ukraine would give up some of its territory. Trump said that it was not yet known, but that he hoped that Ukraine would return some of its territory.

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