French President Emmanuel Macron and U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer “haven’t done anything” to end the war in Ukraine, U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday, days before the two European leaders are due to make separate visits to the White House.
In an interview with Fox News, Trump slammed the French and U.K. leaders for not spending enough to support Kyiv since Russian President Vladimir Putin’s all-out invasion of Ukraine in early 2022, amid rising tensions between the European Union and the U.S. over ongoing negotiations to end the war.
“Europe is basically giving nothing,” Trump said in the interview, while the U.S. is “spending our treasure on some, a country that’s very, very far away.”
The American president said he would be “signing an agreement” to retrieve some $500 billion in American funding, apparently referring to a proposed deal for Ukrainian rare earths and other minerals.
Earlier this week, some EU leaders gathered in Paris for emergency talks about the war in Ukraine and European security, after Trump spoke with Putin by phone about setting up peace talks in Saudi Arabia.
In the Fox interview, Trump said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had “no cards” in peace negotiations. Friday’s comments come after Trump recently called Zelenskyy “a dictator” and has said Kyiv should call new elections as soon as possible.
Macron is expected to meet with Trump in Washington on Monday, while Starmer’s visit to the White House is scheduled for Thursday.
Amid the criticism, Trump also said he considered Macron as a “friend” and called Starmer a “very nice guy.”
The post Trump slams Macron, Starmer for failing to help Ukraine appeared first on Politico.
