Macron Says Britain, France Proposing 1-Month Partial Truce in Ukraine

The proposed truce between Russia and Ukraine would not include ground troops and would cover only air strikes, naval combat, and energy infrastructure.

French President Emmanuel Macron speaks during a press conference with President Donald Trump at the White House in Washington on Feb. 24, 2025. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times

French President Emmanuel Macron has said France and Britain are proposing a one-month truce between Russia and Ukraine which would put a halt on air strikes but not cover ground fighting.

In an exclusive interview with Le Figaro, Macron said, “In the event of a cease-fire, it would be very difficult to verify [the truce] along the front was being respected.”

Macron said the 900-mile front line was equivalent to travelling from Paris to Budapest.

He said the plan was for a “truce in the air, on the seas and energy infrastructure.”

Russia has been actively targeting Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, leading to substantial power cuts which have sapped morale and hampered Kyiv’s war effort.

The French president spoke to Le Figaro as he flew to London for a summit on March 2 with European leaders, hosted by British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer.

Starmer said he was working on a peace plan between Kyiv and Moscow, intended to receive U.S. backing, and warned that Europe must do the “heavy lifting” when it came to protecting Ukraine.

But on March 3, a British government minister distanced the UK from the idea of the one-month truce and said various options were on the table.

Armed forces minister Luke Pollard told Times Radio on March 3, “No agreement has been made on what a truce looks like, and so I don’t recognise the precise part you mentioned there.”

Asked whether European troops would be sent to Ukraine without security guarantees from the United States, Pollard said: “Military deployments are possible. But the point is, we want a durable and lasting peace.”

He said, “This is where it’s really important to understand the distinction between a short pause, which might be able to be achieved, but that doesn’t sustain a durable peace, because there’s a genuine worry by President Zelenskyy and the Ukrainians that a short pause will simply allow the Russian forces to reconstitute, to rearm, to regroup and then to attack again.”

The March 2 summit came after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s meeting in the White House on Feb. 28 ended in a heated discussion, with President Donald Trump scolding him for not being ready for peace and not being grateful for the United States’ support in his nation’s defense against Russia’s three-year-long invasion.

Several European leaders have offered support to the Ukrainian leader and promised to do more to help his nation.

European Troops in 2nd Phase

But Macron said under the Franco-British proposal, European ground troops would be deployed to Ukraine only in a second phase, after the ground fighting between Russian and Ukrainian forces had ended.

Macron told Le Figaro: “There will be no European troops on Ukrainian soil in the coming weeks. The question is how we use this time to try to obtain a truce, with negotiations that will take several weeks and then, once peace is signed, a deployment.”

Macron said: “We want peace. We don’t want it at any price, without guarantees.”

When Zelenskyy was asked whether he was aware of the Anglo-French plan, he told reporters in London, “I’m aware of everything.”

Macron also told Le Figaro that his country and other European nations must spend more on defense.

He said this might mean in the region of 3 percent to 3.5 percent of gross domestic product.

Macron also said the European Commission needed to be more innovative when it comes to defense spending, and he said, “We probably need, initially, 200 billion euros to be able to invest.” That amount is equivalent to about $209 billion.

On Feb. 14, the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, agreed to relax fiscal rules to allow extra defense spending.

Von der Leyen said, “Let there be no room for any doubt: I believe when it comes to European security, Europe has to do more, Europe must bring more to the table, and to achieve this, we need a surge in European defense spending.”

An extraordinary summit of the European Union is due to take place on March 6, and Macron said he wanted defense spending to be the main item on the agenda.

He told Le Figaro: “There are structural cohesion funds and existing program funds that are not used ... and I want us to be able to give the commission a mandate to use innovative financing. That is to say, either joint loans or the European Stability Mechanism, to raise considerable amounts together.”

Kremlin Pours Scorn on Summit

On March 3, the Kremlin said promises made by European leaders at the London summit would not bring about a peaceful resolution to the conflict.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the $2 billion air-defense missiles offered by Britain would just allow hostilities to continue and would not encourage Zelenskyy to pursue peace.

Peskov said: “What happened at the White House on Friday, of course, demonstrated how difficult it will be to reach a settlement trajectory around Ukraine. The Kyiv regime and Zelenskyy do not want peace. They want the war to continue.”

“It is very important that someone forces Zelenskyy himself to change his position,” he added. “Someone has to make Zelenskyy want peace. If the Europeans can do it, they should be honoured and praised.”

Reuters contributed to this report.