Macron, Starmer working to pacify Zelensky-Trump relations 'because what is at stake is too important'

U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron are working behind the scenes to pacify relations between President Volodymyr Zelensky and U.S. President Volodymyr Zelensky following their public spat on Feb. 28.

Macron has spoken with both Zelensky and Trump privately, telling La Tribune Dimanche in an interview published on March 1 that he took the initiative to mediate because "what is at stake is too important."

"The manifest destiny of the Americans is to be on the side of the Ukrainians, I have no doubt about it. What the United States has done over the past three years is entirely consistent with its diplomatic and military tradition," Macron said.

"I want to make the Americans understand that disengagement from Ukraine is not in their interest."

Macron also cautioned against signing a peace deal without any security guarantees for Ukraine, adding that "geostrategic deterrence capacity with regard to Russia, China and others, would vanish the same day ."

If Russia's full-scale war of aggression is not stopped in Ukraine, it will "surely go to Moldova" and "perhaps beyond to Romania," the French president added.

Starmer welcomed Zelensky in London on March 1 following Zelensky’s contentious visit to Washington. The leaders are set to discuss joint defense and security plans later on March 2 during a summit with other allies.

Ahead of the summit, Starmer has cautioned Zelensky to make amends with Trump because "the U.S. has to be involved" in any lasting peace plans for Ukraine, an anonymous source close to the prime minister told the Financial Times on March 1.

Both the U.K. and France have supported the idea of deploying peacekeepers in Ukraine as part of the country's security guarantees.

The U.K. is ready "to put boots on the ground, planes in the air to back Ukraine peace deal," Starmer said at the end of February.

Macron, who has spearheaded the idea of deploying European troops on the ground in some capacity since last year, discussed "practical steps" of a possible peacekeeper deployment with Zelensky in January.

UK to provide $2.8 billion loan to Ukraine backed by frozen Russian assets

The loan, which is part of the Group of Seven’s (G7) Extraordinary Revenue Acceleration (ERA) credit initiative, was signed amid President Volodymyr Zelensky’s visit to London to meet with U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

The Kyiv IndependentDmytro Basmat