President Trump spoke with French President Emmanuel Macron ahead of a European leaders’ meeting about the war in Ukraine, as the Trump administration is pressing forward with plans to negotiate an end to the war.
A White House official said the call on Monday was “friendly” and lasted about 30 minutes.
The two presidents talked about the Ukraine war, meetings among European leaders and the talks in Saudi Arabia between U.S. and Russian officials, according to the official.
Macron pulled together the Monday summit, which comes after Trump said he expects to meet face-to-face with Russian President Vladimir Putin, implying that they are probably going to meet first in Saudi Arabia.
The summit in Paris included Macron, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, among others. It lasted for over three hours, and the leaders agreed they must have a role in U.S.-Russia talks about Ukraine, The Associated Press reported.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has also said that he has not received an invitation to any Saudi Arabia meeting between U.S. and Russian officials.
Starmer shared a video ahead of the meeting in Paris on Monday, saying that a peace deal in Ukraine has to be “lasting” and “not just a pause for Putin to come again.”
