Trump expresses Russia-Ukraine war nearing end as he meets with Macron

President Donald Trump said he was hopeful that Russia’s war in Ukraine was nearing an endgame as he met on Monday with French President Emmanuel Macron on the third anniversary of the invasion.

Trump, in broad-ranging comments on the state of the conflict , said he believed Russian President Vladimir Putin would accept European peacekeepers in Ukraine to keep the peace. He also expressed hope that the conflict could end within weeks and that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy would soon come to the U.S. to sign a deal to give the U.S. access to Ukraine’s critical minerals to help repay some of the $180 billion in American aid that’s been sent to Kyiv since the start of the war.

“It looks like we’re getting very close,” Trump told reporters at the start of his bilateral meeting with Macron. He added that Zelenskyy could potentially visit Washington this week or next to sign the deal.

Trump and Macron earlier on Monday participated in a virtual meeting with fellow Group of Seven leaders to discuss the war.

The talks come at a moment of deep uncertainty about the future of transatlantic relations, with Trump transforming American foreign policy and effectively tuning out European leadership as he looks to quickly end the war in Ukraine .

Ukraine is also looking for future security guarantees as part of any agreement. Trump, however, did not say whether the emerging deal would include American security guarantees.

“Europe is going to make sure nothing happens,” Trump said.

The anniversary — and talks — come at an unnerving moment for much of Europe witnessing a dramatic shift in American foreign policy with Trump's return to power.

Trump also has made demands for territory — Greenland , Canada , Gaza and the Panama Canal — as well as precious rare earth minerals from Ukraine. Just over a month into his second term, the “America First” president has cast an enormous shadow over what veteran U.S. diplomats and former government officials had regarded as America’s calming presence of global stability and continuity.

Macron at a joint press conference with Trump following their meeting said their talks were productive and acknowledged that European nations must do more to bolster defense on the continent. But Macron also warned against capitulating to Russia.

″This peace must not mean a surrender of Ukraine,” Macron said. “It must not mean a ceasefire without guarantees. This peace must allow for Ukrainian sovereignty.”

Trump said he believed Putin would accept European peacekeepers in Ukraine as part of a potential deal to end Russia’s war there.

“Yeah, he will accept it,” Trump said. “I have asked him that question. Look, if we do this deal, he’s not looking for more war.”

Putin said Monday that he has not discussed resolving the conflict in Ukraine in detail with Trump and nor did Russian and American negotiating teams when they met in Saudi Arabia last week. Putin also said Russia does not rule out European countries participating in a peace settlement.

Despite some hiccups, the military, economic and moral power of the United States has dominated the post-World War II era , most notably after the Cold War came to an end with the collapse of the Soviet Union. All of that, some fear, may be lost if Trump gets his way and the U.S. abandons the principles under which the United Nations and numerous other international bodies were founded.

“The only conclusion you can draw is that 80 years of policy in standing up against aggressors has just been blown up without any sort of discussion or reflection,” said Ian Kelly, a U.S. ambassador to Georgia during the Obama and first Trump administration and now a professor at Northwestern University.

Visits start on anniversary of war in Ukraine

Trump is set to hold a meeting Thursday with another key European leader, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer .

The talks come after Trump shook Europe with repeated criticism of Zelenskyy for failing to negotiate an end to the war and rebuffing a push to sign off on a deal giving the U.S. access to Ukraine’s rare earth minerals , which could be used in the American aerospace, medical and tech industries.

European leaders also were dismayed by Trump’s decision to dispatch top aides for preliminary talks with Russian officials in Saudi Arabia without Ukrainian or European officials at the table.

Meanwhile, the United States on Monday failed to get the U.N. General Assembly to approve its resolution urging an end to the war without mentioning Moscow’s aggression. The assembly approved a dueling European-backed Ukrainian resolution demanding Russia immediately withdraw from Ukraine.

On the minerals deal, Zelenskyy initially bristled, saying it was short on security guarantees for Ukraine. He said Sunday on X that “we are making great progress“ but noted that "we want a good economic deal that will be part of a true security guarantee system for Ukraine.”

The friction follows a public spat, with Trump calling Zelenskyy a “dictator” and falsely charging Kyiv with starting the war . Russia, in fact, invaded its smaller and lesser-equipped neighbor in February 2022.

Asked on Monday if he thought Putin was also a dictator, Trump demurred.

“I don’t use those words lightly,” Trump said.

Zelenskyy, who said Sunday in response to a question that he would trade his office for peace or to join NATO, then angered Trump by saying the U.S. president was living in a Russian-made “disinformation space.” Confronting Trump might not be the best approach, analysts say.

“The response to President Trump doing something to you is not to do something back right away. You tend to get this kind of reaction,” said retired Rear Adm. Mark Montgomery, a senior fellow at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies.

High-stakes talks between European and U.S. leaders

Macron said ahead of the meeting he intended to tell Trump it’s in the joint interest of Americans and Europeans not to show weakness to Putin during U.S.-led negotiations to end the war in Ukraine. He also suggested he’ll make the case that how Trump handles Putin could have enormous ramifications for U.S. dealings with China , the United States’ most significant economic and military competitor.

“You can’t be weak in the face of President Putin. It’s not you, it’s not your trademark, it’s not in your interest,” Macron said. “How can you then be credible in the face of China if you’re weak in the face of Putin?’”

Yet, Trump has shown a considerable measure of respect for the Russian leader. Trump said this month he”d like to see Russia rejoin what is now the Group of Seven major economies. Russia was suspended from the G8 after Moscow’s 2014 annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea region.

“I really believe he wants to make a deal,” Trump said. “I may be wrong, but I believe he wants to make a deal.

AP writers Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations, Emma Burrows in London and Sagar Meghani, Chris Megerian and Will Weissert contributed reporting.

美国总统唐纳德·特朗普周一与法国总统埃马纽埃尔·马克龙会面，当天是俄罗斯入侵乌克兰三周年纪念日。特朗普表示，他希望俄罗斯在乌克兰的战争即将结束。

特朗普就乌克兰冲突局势发表了广泛评论，称他相信俄罗斯总统普京会接受欧洲维和部队进驻乌克兰以维护和平。他还表示希望冲突能在几周内结束，并希望乌克兰总统泽连斯基尽快访美签署一项协议，使美国能够获得乌克兰的关键矿产资源，以偿还自战争爆发以来美国向基辅提供的1800亿美元援助中的一部分。

特朗普在与马克龙举行双边会晤开始时告诉记者：“看来我们离达成协议非常接近了。”他还补充说，泽连斯基有可能在本周或下周访问华盛顿签署该协议。

周一早些时候，特朗普和马克龙与七国集团其他领导人举行了视频会议，讨论战争问题。

此次会谈正值跨大西洋关系未来充满不确定性之际，特朗普正在改变美国的外交政策，并实际上忽视了欧洲的领导作用，因为他希望尽快结束乌克兰战争。

乌克兰还希望在任何协议中加入未来安全保障条款。然而，特朗普并未说明即将达成的协议是否会包含美国的安全保障。

“欧洲会确保什么事都不会发生，”特朗普说。

对于欧洲大部分地区而言，随着特朗普重返政坛，美国的外交政策发生了巨大转变，因此，周年纪念日和相关会谈的召开正值一个令人不安的时刻。

特朗普还对格陵兰岛、加拿大、加沙地带和巴拿马运河等领土以及乌克兰的珍贵稀土矿产提出了要求。在他第二个任期开始仅仅一个多月后，这位奉行“美国优先”政策的总统就给资深美国外交官和前政府官员眼中美国在全球稳定和延续方面所扮演的稳定角色蒙上了一层巨大的阴影。

马克龙在与特朗普会晤后的联合新闻发布会上表示，会谈富有成效，并承认欧洲各国必须加大力度加强欧洲大陆的国防。但马克龙也警告不要向俄罗斯屈服。

马克龙表示：“和平绝不能意味着乌克兰的投降，绝不能意味着没有保障的停火。和平必须保障乌克兰的主权。”

特朗普表示，他相信普京会接受欧洲维和部队进驻乌克兰，以此作为结束俄罗斯在乌克兰战争的潜在协议的一部分。

“是的，他会接受的，”特朗普说。“我问过他这个问题。你看，如果我们达成这项协议，他并不想再打仗。”

普京周一表示，他并未与特朗普详细讨论解决乌克兰冲突的方案，俄美谈判团队上周在沙特阿拉伯会晤时也未就此进行深入探讨。普京还表示，俄罗斯不排除欧洲国家参与和平谈判的可能性。

尽管经历了一些波折，美国的军事、经济和道德实力在二战后时代一直占据主导地位，尤其是在冷战随着苏联解体而结束之后。一些人担心，如果特朗普得逞，美国放弃联合国和其他众多国际组织赖以建立的原则，所有这一切可能会付诸东流。

“你唯一能得出的结论是，80年来反抗侵略者的政策就这样被彻底推翻了，没有任何讨论或反思，”伊恩·凯利说道。他曾在奥巴马和特朗普第一任期内担任美国驻格鲁吉亚大使，现在是西北大学的教授。

访问活动于乌克兰战争周年纪念日开始。

特朗普将于周四与另一位重要的欧洲领导人——英国首相基尔·斯塔默举行会晤。

此前，特朗普多次批评泽连斯基未能通过谈判结束战争，并拒绝签署一项允许美国获取乌克兰稀土矿产的协议，这些矿产可用于美国的航空航天、医疗和科技行业。这些批评震动了欧洲。

欧洲领导人也对特朗普派遣高级助手前往沙特阿拉伯与俄罗斯官员进行初步会谈，而没有乌克兰或欧洲官员在场的决定感到失望。

与此同时，美国周一未能促使联合国大会通过其呼吁结束战争但未提及莫斯科侵略行为的决议。大会通过了一项由欧洲支持的乌克兰决议，要求俄罗斯立即从乌克兰撤军。

对于矿产协议，泽连斯基最初表示不满，称其缺乏对乌克兰的安全保障。他周日在X电视台表示，“我们正在取得巨大进展”，但他同时指出，“我们希望达成一项良好的经济协议，使其成为真正保障乌克兰安全体系的一部分。”

这场摩擦源于一场公开争吵，特朗普称泽连斯基为“独裁者”，并错误地指责基辅发动了战争。事实上，俄罗斯在2022年2月入侵了其面积较小、装备较弱的邻国。

周一，当被问及是否认为普京也是独裁者时，特朗普回避了这个问题。

“我不会轻易使用这些词语，”特朗普说。

泽连斯基周日在回答有关他是否愿意以总统职位换取和平或加入北约的问题时表示，随后他又称美国总统生活在俄罗斯制造的“虚假信息空间”中，这激怒了特朗普。分析人士认为，与特朗普对抗可能并非最佳策略。

“对特朗普总统的所作所为，正确的做法不是立即以牙还牙。你往往会得到这样的反应，”退役海军少将、保卫民主基金会高级研究员马克·蒙哥马利说道。

欧美领导人举行高风险会谈

马克龙在会晤前表示，他打算告诉特朗普，在以美国为主导的结束乌克兰战争的谈判中，美国和欧洲不应向普京示弱，这符合双方的共同利益。他还暗示，他将阐明特朗普如何处理普京问题，可能会对美国与中国（美国最重要的经济和军事竞争对手）的关系产生巨大影响。

马克龙说：“你不能在普京总统面前示弱。这不符合你的为人，不是你的风格，也不符合你的利益。如果你在普京面前都示弱，又如何能在中国面前赢得信任呢？”

然而，特朗普对俄罗斯领导人表现出了相当大的尊重。本月，特朗普表示，他希望看到俄罗斯重新加入七国集团（G7）。2014年莫斯科吞并乌克兰克里米亚地区后，俄罗斯被暂停了八国集团（G8）成员资格。

“我真的相信他想达成协议，”特朗普说。“我可能错了，但我相信他想达成协议。”

美联社驻联合国记者 Edith M. Lederer、驻伦敦记者 Emma Burrows 以及 Sagar Meghani、Chris Megerian 和 Will Weissert 对此报道亦有贡献。