French President Emmanuel Macron (left) shakes hands with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio next to the special envoy Steve Witkoff (Center) and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jean-Noël Barrot, before a meeting at the Presidential Palace of the Élysée in Paris on Thursday.
Ludovic Marin / AFP via Getty Images
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Ludovic Marin / AFP via Getty Images
Paris and Kyiv-French President Emmanuel Macron welcomed the best diplomats in the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom and Ukraine to discuss the efforts of peace between Russia and Ukraine, and try to save an effective alliance between Europe and the Trump administration.
“Everyone wants to get peace. Robust and sustainable peace,” Macron told the American delegation to Élysée Palace. “The question concerns phasing.”
The American delegation included Secretary of State Marco Rubio, special envoys Steve Witkoff and Keith Kellogg.
“Very productive meetings in Elysee Palace on efforts to end the Ukrainian-Russia war,” wrote Kellogg on the X social media platform, as well as a photograph of himself with the representatives of Ukraine.
The State Department said that Rubio had later spoken with the Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sergey Lavrov, and said that the administration had “now presented to all parties the contours of sustainable and sustainable peace”. Witkoff had several meetings with Russian President Vladimir Putin, including last week in Saint Petersburg, Russia.
Ukraine has prompted the United States to adopt a more difficult position on Russia, whose large-scale invasion of Ukraine was launched in February 2022 and continues to make lives. Addressing kyiv journalists on Thursday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Witkoff “had adopted Russia’s strategy.”
The Ukrainians criticized Witkoff for the statements made to Fox News that a potential peace agreement could focus on the status of five Ukrainian territories. The Kremlin illegally annexed the southern Crimea region in 2014 and, since its large -scale invasion, partially occupied the regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson.
“It is very dangerous because it consciously or unconsciously spreads Russian stories,” said Zelenskyy. “And he does not have the mandate to discuss the Ukrainian territories, because our territory belongs to our people.”
Asked about President Trump’s statement calling on the deadly Russian Sunday strike on Northeast Sumy “an error”, Zelenskyy refused to criticize Trump and stressed that Rubio had sentenced the strike. The president of Ukraine added that European leaders were much more energetic in their conviction, slamming Russia for a strike that killed 35 civilians and injured 100.
“I think the Administration’s sweet response (Trump) reflects the pursuit of their current policy,” said Zelenskyy. “I think they think that this kind of diplomacy, this format, will help end the war.”
Trump said he wanted to end the war quickly. He says he is frustrated by kyiv and Moscow, even if his administration seems to have embraced the story of the Moscow War.
Macron called Zelenskyy before and after Thursday meetings. More meetings are planned in London next week.
Eleanor Beardsley brought in Paris and Joanna Kakissis from Kyiv.
