Macron: Putin ‘played’ Trump if no Zelensky meeting commitment by Monday
French President Emmanuel Macron issued a reminder Friday of President Trump’s deadline for Russian President Vladimir Putin to agree to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
“If that doesn’t happen by Monday, the deadline set by President Trump, it means that once again President Putin played President Trump,” Macron said Friday during a joint press conference with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.
Macron said he hopes the meeting between Zelensky and Putin, one that Russian officials so far have rejected, takes place, but added if it doesn’t, European leaders would push for primary and secondary sanctions to pressure the Kremlin to negotiate a peace deal.
Merz, who, along with Macron, was one of the seven European leaders at the White House meeting with Trump and Zelensky last week, warned that the conflict in eastern Europe could continue for “many more” months. The German leader added that European countries will not “abandon” Kyiv but said Putin is not showing proof he is ready to meet with Zelensky, despite Trump’s demands for the bilateral talks.
Last Friday, while speaking with reporters at the White House, Trump said he expects to make a move in two weeks if a direct meeting between Zelensky and Putin is not set.
“We’re going to see whether or not they have a meeting, It’ll be interesting to see. If they don’t, why didn’t they have a meeting, because I told them to have a meeting,” the president said. “But I’ll know what I am going to do in two weeks.”
Zelensky on Friday also noted a previous statement by Trump that he would give Putin a week or two to agree on a meeting before possibly imposing penalties on Russia.
“Two weeks will be on Monday. And we will remind everybody,” Zelensky said.
So far, Russia has slow-walked Washington’s effort to broker a peace deal to end the 3 1/2 year war in eastern Europe. Ukraine has balked at making territorial concessions but says it’s ready for Zelensky to meet with Putin as it also negotiates postwar security guarantees with the U.S. and Europe.
Russian officials have questioned Zelensky’s legitimacy, and Moscow’s military has continued to pound Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities with drones and missile assaults.
When asked Friday about Macron’s comments, White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller called the question “absurd” and added that the president has “achieved seven peace deals in seven months.”
“Literally no president, not just in our lifetimes, but then I can think of an American history and no world leader anywhere today, anywhere on Earth has done more to advance world peace than President Trump,” Miller told reporters.
Miller echoed Trump’s claim that the Russia-Ukraine war is “Biden’s war” and emphasized that Trump is working “steadfastly to end the killing, and that’s something that everybody in the world should celebrate.”
Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff met with Zelensky’s chief of staff Andriy Yermak and Ukraine’s Deputy Foreign Minister Serhii Kyslytsia in New York City on Friday, where they discussed Russia’s continued bombardment of Ukraine.
Yermak said he invited Witkoff, who has met with Putin five times this year, to visit Ukraine “in the near future.”
“Ukraine supports President Trump’s firm resolve, as well as that of all partners, to achieve a lasting peace as soon as possible. Ukraine welcomes all peace initiatives put forward by the United States. But unfortunately, each of them is being stalled by Russia,” Yermak said on social platform X after the meeting.
Yermak called for “global pressure” to “ensure Russia is genuinely ready to move toward peace and, in particular, to hold critically important leaders’ meetings for that purpose.”