Peace must allow for Ukraine sovereignty, says Emmanuel Macron at White House

French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday asserted that Ukraine’s sovereignty is an “existential issue” for Europe’s stability and stressed that any peace must uphold Ukraine’s sovereignty. His remarks, came amid the US efforts to bring an end to Ukraine’s war with Russia, were made during a joint press conference with US President Donald Trump following their bilateral meetings.

The French president emphasised that an end to the war with Russia can’t be “a ceasefire without guarantees” and he noted that European nations need to contribute more to maintaining the defence and security of their continent.

“We admire greatly the courage of the Ukrainian people. I think that no one in this room wants to live in a world where it’s the law of the strongest,” Macron said.

“Ukraine has been able to hold the front of our collective security. Its fought over these past few years for its independence and for its sovereignty but also for our collective security,” he added.

Reflecting on Trump’s reference to Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky as a dictator last week, Macron said it was clear that Russia “is the aggressor” in the conflict. “President Putin violated the peace,” he said.

The French President also said that his country is committed to helping shoulder more of the financial burden of ensuring peace in Ukraine.

“As Europeans, we have committed to being stakeholders in these security guarantees,” he said. “And we are well aware that Europeans need to do more for security in Europe, for defence in Europe and to more fairly share the security burden that your country has been carrying for so many years,” Macron said at the press briefing.

Meanwhile, Trump referred to the war as “a horrible, bloody mess”, as it meant that “an entire generation of Ukrainians and Russian men has been decimated.”

“What a mess. What a horrible, bloody mess,” the US President said, also promising a clean break with his predecessor Joe Biden’s policy in Ukraine. Trump pointed out that the discussions between Russia and his administration were moving toward peace “pretty quickly”.

Trump asserted that the war “would never have happened if I were president” and claimed to have made more progress toward peace in Ukraine “than in the past three years.”

He also expressed satisfaction that President Macron agrees “the cost and burden of securing peace should be shouldered by European nations, not solely by the United States”.

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