There must be a push for peace to end the war between Russia and Ukraine, but French President Emmanuel Macron is skeptical that Russian President Vladimir Putin is ready to resolve the conflict.
“When I look at the situation and the facts, I don’t see President Putin very willing to get peace now,” Macron told NBC News’ “Meet the Press” moderator Kristen Welker in an exclusive interview Monday after a high-stakes White House meeting. “But perhaps I’m too pessimistic.”
He also said “the optimism of your president is to be taken seriously. So if he considers he can get a deal done, this is great news, and we have to do whatever we can to have a great deal.”
Macron insisted that the United States must apply pressure to Russia and Putin to find a resolution, including introducing more sanctions.
If there is no progress in the bilateral meeting President Donald Trump announced between Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and if a trilateral meeting falls through, “or if the Russians don’t comply with this approach, yes, we have to increase the sanctions, secondary and primary sanctions,” Macron said.
“There is an aggressor, which is Russia. There is a country which decided to kill people, stole children and who refused a ceasefire and peace, so we cannot just create an equivalent situation between Ukraine and Russia.”
Ukraine must be given security guarantees to prevent any future Russian attacks that could prolong the conflict or start a new war, Macron said after his meeting with Trump, Zelenskyy and top European leaders.
“If you make any peace deal without security guarantees, Russia will never respect its words, will never comply with its own commitments,” Macron said.
He said it was promising that Trump noted that one of the key points from his meeting Friday with Putin was that he had accepted security guarantees for Ukraine.
Asked about the possibility of a ceasefire, Macron said, “I do hope,” noting that Russia carried out strikes in Ukraine even as the delegation of world leaders was in the United States.
