France backs Trump’s Ukraine diplomacy, seeks US support for European troops

French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday expressed support for United States President Donald Trump’s outreach to Russia regarding Ukraine but urged U.S. to back any European troop deployment as a security guarantee.

“We want a quick deal but not a fragile one,” Macron said at a joint news conference at the White House.

Macron flew to Moscow weeks before Russia invaded Ukraine three years ago in an unsuccessful bid to dissuade Russian President Vladimir Putin. Like then U.S. President Joe Biden, Macron soon cut off contact with Putin.

Macron said there was “a big change” in that there was a new U.S. administration.

“There is good reason for President Trump to re-engage with President Putin,” Macron said.

‘Putin violated this peace’

But Macron said he shared Europe’s own experience in negotiating after an earlier conflict in Ukraine a decade ago.

“In 2014, our predecessors negotiated peace with President Putin, but because of the lack of guarantees and especially security guarantees President Putin violated this peace,” Macron said.

“So this is why being strong and having deterrence capacities is the only way to be sure it will be respected,” he said.

Macron, who has mulled sending French troops to Ukraine to preserve any peace, said it was critical for the U.S. to offer support.

“A lot of my European colleagues are ready to be engaged, but we do need this American backup, because this is part of the credibility of the security guarantees,” he said.

Trump and Biden both ruled out sending U.S. troops to Ukraine, and Trump has pressed for Kyiv to sign a deal to hand over mineral wealth to the U.S.

Macron said: “I think we should never say I will never send boots on the ground, because you give a blank check to violate any type of commitment.”

‘I think we could end it within weeks’

Meanwhile, Trump said he was confident of bringing an end to the war following his talks with Putin.

“I think we could end it within weeks — if we’re smart. If we’re not smart, it will keep going,” Trump said earlier in the Oval Office with Macron.

Trump added that Putin was ready to “accept” European troops deployed in Ukraine as guarantors of a deal to end fighting.

Since his ice-breaking call with Trump less than two weeks ago, Putin has been seen Washington apparently back a series of its positions on the war.

Moscow is particularly keen to get rid of Western sanctions imposed after the February 24, 2022 invasion.

Putin said Monday that U.S. and Russian companies were “in touch” on joint economic projects — including strategic minerals in occupied Ukraine.

He added in an interview with state television that Zelenskyy was becoming a “toxic figure” in Ukraine.

Trump has made similar comments recently after Zelenskyy complained of being frozen out of talks, calling him a “dictator without elections.”