President-elect Donald Trump met with French President Emmanuel Macron and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at The Elysee Presidential Palace in Paris on the evening of Dec. 7.
Macron was seen giving a thumbs-up as Trump and Zelenskyy flanked him for a photo opportunity at the presidential palace.
Macron had planned to meet with Zelenskyy, and the French president’s office said he proposed the three-way meeting shortly before Trump’s arrival.
“The world’s going a little crazy right now and we'll be talking about that,” Trump said ahead of the meeting.
Trump has signaled he would prefer to quickly negotiate an end to the ongoing Russia–Ukraine war, but questions remain about how he would halt the fighting.
If a cease-fire freezes the conflict along the current battle lines, Russia could retain a sizable swathe of Ukraine’s pre-war territory.
Zelenskyy has indicated he would be open to negotiating for a cease-fire if the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) extends alliance membership over the parts of Ukraine not currently under Russian control.
“If we want to stop the hot phase of the war, we need to take under the NATO umbrella the territory of Ukraine that we have under our control,” the Ukrainian president said in a Nov. 29 interview.
Zelenskyy said Ukraine might eventually regain control of the Russian-occupied territory through some diplomatic means.
It remains to be seen if Trump will use Zelenskyy’s terms as a starting point for cease-fire talks.
Trump has not yet commented on his meeting with Macron and Zelenskyy.
In an effort to build trust with the incoming U.S. administration, top Zelenskyy aide Andriy Yermak met key members of Trump’s team on a two-day trip earlier this week.
Trump and Zelenskyy are among numerous world leaders gathering in Paris for the reopening of the Notre-Dame Cathedral, after it was severely damaged in a 2019 fire.
The Dec. 7 gathering in Paris also comes after France’s National Assembly voted on Dec. 4 to remove French Prime Minister Michel Barnier in a no-confidence vote. Macron appointed Barnier to the position in September, but Barnier soon encountered resistance as he pushed a financial plan aimed at curbing France’s budget deficit.
The ouster of Barnier poses a challenge to Macron’s political power. Some lawmakers who supported the no-confidence vote against Barnier have since called for Macron to resign. The French president has insisted he will serve out his term.
