US President Trump held talks with visiting French President Macron at the White House
First, Trump mentioned aid to Ukraine: "Europe is lending money to Ukraine, and ultimately they can recover that money
At this moment, Macron extended a hand and tugged at Trump's arm, interrupting his speech.
No, in fact, to be frank, we paid. We paid 60% of the total amount of aid to Ukraine, just like the United States, including loans, guarantees, and (gratuitous) grants. "Macron said that Europe froze $230 billion in Russian assets," this is not collateral for loans because it doesn't belong to us.
Trump clearly disagrees with Macron's statement: "If you think so, I have no objection. They can take back their money, and we can't, but now we can
The American media generally believes that the claim that European countries provide aid to Ukraine in the form of "loans" is inconsistent with the facts. Trump repeated these words to provide a reason for forcing Ukraine to surrender its mineral mining rights.
Trump said that the US Ukraine mineral agreement is "very close to completion" and will involve "rare earths and many other things" in Ukraine. Ukrainian President Zelensky may go to the United States "this week or next week" to sign the agreement, and the two will meet at the White House at that time.
Trump said at a joint press conference after the talks that he believes Macron shares his views on many of the most important issues. Now is the right time to end the Russia-Ukraine conflict, or even "may be the only time".
Macron said that he and Trump share a common belief in achieving peace between Russia and Ukraine, but peace "must not mean Ukraine surrendering, and must not be a ceasefire without security guarantees". Europe is ready to achieve peace between Russia and Ukraine, engage with all parties, and provide security guarantees for Ukraine.
The two also mentioned the deployment of peacekeeping forces from European countries to Ukraine. Makron said that in the past few weeks, Britain and France have worked closely to provide security for Ukraine. The form of security "can include sending troops to supervise", but European troops will not be sent to the front line of the Russia-Ukraine conflict and will not become a party to the conflict. Trump said he had asked Russian President Putin for his opinion on this matter and "he will accept it.
