Trump meets with Macron amid negotiations on Ukraine

President Donald Trump is meeting Monday in Washington with his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, to whom he will present a proposal to achieve peace in Ukraine.

Macron arrived at the White House shortly before 8 a.m. local time to participate in a phone call with the leaders of the G7 (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United States and the United Kingdom).

Later, at 12 p.m., he will have a meeting with Trump as well as a lunch and a joint press conference at 3 p.m.

On Thursday, Trump will also receive U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer. The talks come amid the Republican president's negotiations with Russia to bring about an end to the war in Ukraine.

The negotiations have been criticized by European leaders who believe this could increase Russian influence in Europe. As AFP explained, Macron "seeks to persuade Trump to include the Europeans in discussions between Russia and the United States, as it marks three years since the Russian invasion of Ukraine."

Last week, when asked for his opinion on the Europeans' comments, Trump claimed that British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron have done nothing to end the Ukraine war.

"They didn’t do anything either [to end the war]. The war’s going on, no meetings with Russia, no nothing," Trump said in remarks reported by The Telegraph.

"Macron is a friend of mine, and I’ve met with the prime minister, he’s a very nice guy... [but] nobody’s done anything," he added.

Similarly, the Republican argued that the reason Vladimir Putin agreed to talk about Ukraine was because of him.

Meanwhile, the British prime minister said in a column for The Telegraph that he is willing to send British troops to Ukraine as part of an effort to secure peace at a post-conflict stage.

Starmer's message, unheard of since the war began, came after talks between Russia and the United States made progress toward ending the conflict that began in 2021.