President Emmanuel Macron said in a speech at star hours to France on Wednesday night that Europe must be prepared to do so to defend Ukraine, without further help from the United States under the Trump administration.
“I want to believe that the United States will be by our side, but we have to be ready to make that case,” Macron said from the Elysée Palace in Paris.
He continued: “Whether we arrive at peace in Ukraine soon or not, we need to be able to recognize the Russian threat and better defend ourselves to deter such attacks. Whatever happens, we need to provide more weapons, more teams in terms of defense, to provide a dissuasive force.”
Macron warned that Ukraine cannot be abandoned in his fight against Russia because, he said: “Who can believe that in this context, Russia will stop in Ukraine? Russia has become and will continue to be a threat to France and Europe.”
The French president made it clear that France and other European countries must take concrete measures, including investment in defense and military capacities, to protect the safety of their nations and Ukraine.
“It is still a spectator in this dangerous world would be crazy,” Macron said. “Peace initiatives go in the right direction, and I welcome them, and we must continue helping Ukrainians resist until they can negotiate with Russia a solid and lasting peace for them and for all of us. The path to peace cannot be achieved by abandoning Ukraine.”
Macron reiterated comments made by British Prime Minister Keir Starmer during the weekend at a defense summit in London that Europe may have to put boots on the ground in Ukraine.
“Our forces will be there if necessary to guarantee peace, not before signing a peace agreement,” Macron said Wednesday. “We will continue to meet with allies to move towards the signing of this agreement. It is a plan for a lasting, solid and verifiable peace agreement, in which we are working with European and Ukraine partners.”
The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said in an X publication that he was grateful for Macron’s clear vision and our joint efforts to achieve peace. “
“Peace must be real, not just a word, it cannot mean the capitulation or collapse of Ukraine. It must be fair, reliable and lasting, and this can only be achieved through strong security guarantees and long term, for Ukraine, Europe and everyone,” said Zelenskyy.
Macron and Starmer have associated themselves in a desperate attempt to cure US ties of Ukraine after the extraordinary shout match last Friday in the White House that involves Zelenskyy, President Donald Trump and vice president JD Vance. Both Starmer and Macron have tried to balance their one -year open support for Zelenskyy with the need to retain good relations with the United States.
When reviewing his speech, Macron said in X that he arrived in a “moment of great uncertainty, when the world faces his greatest challenges.” Starmer told British legislators on Wednesday that he had spoken with Trump three times since he visited the White House last week.
This Anglo-French mission has sometimes seemed onerous.
After the Oval office dispute, Trump continued to scold Zelenskyy on social networks, with the president and some of his team suggesting that the leader of Ukraine could or should be expelled from office. The administration after the aid to Ukraine, a vital life line that retains the Kremlin war machine.
Aid’s freezing is a serious blow not only for Ukraine, whose greatest military sponsor is the United States, but also Europe, which is being able to defend Russia without Washington.
Things changed on Tuesday when Trump said during his joint speech to Congress that he had received “an important letter” from Zelenskyy that indicated the desire for the peace of Ukrainian President and his gratitude for the support of the United States.
Zelenskyy confirmed the impulse of this letter in an X position on Tuesday, calling for the shock of the “unfortunate” White House, thanking Trump’s team and saying that he was ready to sign an agreement that gave Washington access to the rich mineral wealth of Ukraine.
Even so, there is much to solve.
Ukraine is reluctant to sign a high fire without “security guarantees”, which means protection from Europe and the United States against Russia that violate the truce, as it has done before.
Partisans and independent analysts care that a high fire allows Russia to regroup, as well as show Russian president Vladimir Putin to attack a European country is not only allowed, but rewarded.
Zelenskyy once remained firm in demanding these security guarantees. But now he faced the pressure of Moscow and Washington, he suggested in X that he would accept a mineral agreement that was simply a “step towards” such loose promises.
