‘No mistrust’ between Europe and US over Ukraine, Macron says | Ukraine

Emmanuel Macron said there was “no mistrust” between Europe and the US, a day after a report claimed the French president had privately warned that Washington risked betraying Ukraine.

“On the Ukraine issue, unity between Americans and Europeans is essential. I say again and again that we must work together,” Macron told reporters during a visit to China on Friday.

“We welcome and support the peace efforts of the United States. The United States needs Europeans to lead these peace efforts,” he said.

German magazine Der Spiegel on Thursday quoted from a leaked synopsis Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz reportedly expressed fundamental doubts about US efforts to negotiate between Ukraine and Russia in a secret meeting between several European leaders.

In the transcript, it was stated that Macron warned Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy that “without clarity on security guarantees, there is a possibility that the United States will betray Ukraine on land.”

The alleged leak risked angering Donald Trump, whom European leaders sought to flatter, knowing he was a key player in mediation efforts with Moscow.

It also comes as European leaders are rushing to rescue a badly needed financing plan for cash-strapped Ukraine. Merz held urgent talks with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever on Friday.

Asked about the Spiegel report on Friday, Macron replied: “I deny everything.”

Der Spiegel said it had obtained an English-language summary of Monday’s meeting, which included direct quotes from the heads of government.

In the text of the speech, Macron stated that the current tense phase of the negotiations poses a “great danger” for Zelenskyy. He added that Merz should be “very careful”.

“They are playing games with both you and us,” Merz reportedly told Zelenskyy; The remarks are believed to refer to the diplomatic mission to Moscow this week by Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, the US president’s son-in-law.

Washington last month presented a 28-point proposal to stop the war in Ukraine, drafted without input from Ukraine’s European allies and criticized as too close a reflection of Moscow’s maximalist demands.

U.S. and Ukrainian negotiators held talks before Witkoff and Kushner left for Moscow on Tuesday. The two met for five hours with Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin, and Witkoff then met with Rustam Umerov, head of Ukraine’s national security council, in Miami on Thursday. There was no official statement about the Miami meeting, and a Ukrainian official said Friday that further meetings would be held in the Florida city.

Moscow and Kyiv continue to fight, seeking stronger negotiating positions. Officials said Russian drones hit a house in central Ukraine on Thursday night, killing a 12-year-old boy, while Ukrainian long-range strikes reportedly targeted a Russian port and oil refinery.

Merz will have a private dinner on Friday with von der Leyen and De Wever, who have expressed opposition to a plan to fund Ukraine that involves the unprecedented use of frozen Russian assets.

As Russia’s attacks intensify, Kiev is running out of money. The EU has pledged to keep Ukraine afloat next year and plans to raise €90bn (£80bn) to cover around two-thirds of its 2026 and 2027 needs.

Von der Leyen proposed two main options for raising funds. He said this week that the bloc could either borrow against its shared budget on international markets or issue a loan secured by dormant Russian assets, mostly held in Belgium, that Kiev would repay from Russia’s post-war reparations.

But De Wever said at an event in Brussels this week that he was against seizing frozen Russian assets. “It’s a good idea to steal from the bad guy and give it to the good guy,” he said. “But the theft of another country’s frozen assets has never been done.

“We did not confiscate Germany’s money even during World War II.”

Inside a column In the Frankfurter Allgemeine newspaper on Thursday, Merz told EU leaders that the decisions they take in the coming days “will determine the question of European independence.”

Moscow’s Ambassador to Germany, Sergei Nechaev, said in a statement: “Any operation against sovereign Russian assets without Russia’s consent is theft. It is also clear that the theft of Russian state funds will have far-reaching consequences.”