Ukraine war truce could be weeks away, Macron hints as he reveals talks with Starmer about sending troops

French President Emmanuel Macron has suggested a truce in the Ukraine war could be weeks way following talks with Donald Trump. In an interview with Fox News after the meeting in Washington, Mr Macron said it was “feasible” to talk about the start of negotiations for a sustainable peace within weeks.

He said: “We want peace. And I think the initiative of President Trump is a very positive one. But my message was to say be careful because we need something substantial for Ukraine. “I think the arrival of President Trump is a game-changer. And I think he has the deterrence capacity of the US to reengage with Russia.”.

The transatlantic alliance on the conflict has been shaken in recent weeks by the President’s comments on Ukraine and attempts to secure a deal with Russia over Ukraine’s head. Mr Trump suggested it will be Europe that “make[s] sure nothing happens” when it comes to security, after he said that Vladimir Putin would be happy to see peacekeeping forces on the ground in the event of a deal being struck to end the war.

Mr Macron said he was working with British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer on a proposal to send troops to the region. “Not to go to the front line, not to go in confrontation, but to be in some locations, being defined by the treaty, as a presence to maintain this peace and our collective credibility with the US backup,” he said.

The US’s role in any future deal is likely to be among the topics up for discussion later this week when Sir Keir Starmer heads to Washington for talks, after he reiterated his calls for a US “backstop” to any deal. Speaking from the White House about security guarantees alongside Mr Macron, the US President said: “Europe is going to make sure nothing happens.”.

Earlier on, Mr Trump had said Mr Putin “will accept” peacekeepers. Sir Keir has previously said he would be willing to put British troops on the ground as part of security guarantees that could end the war. Addressing reporters alongside Mr Macron, Mr Trump said of the Russian president’s reaction to peacekeepers in Ukraine: “Yeah, he will accept it.

“I have asked him that question. Look, if we do this deal, he’s not looking for world war.”. Earlier this month, Sir Keir wrote in The Daily Telegraph that the UK was “ready to play a leading role” in Ukraine’s defence and security. “It also means being ready and willing to contribute to security guarantees to Ukraine by putting our own troops on the ground if necessary,” he said.

“I do not say that lightly. I feel very deeply the responsibility that comes with potentially putting British servicemen and women in harm’s way”. Russian officials have previously said that Moscow will not allow Nato or European troops to be deployed to Ukraine as peacekeepers.

Mr Trump also expressed hope that Volodymyr Zelensky could come to the US to sign a deal to give the US access to Ukraine’s critical minerals in the coming weeks. Sir Keir has been urged to follow Mr Macron and be “firm and robust” with Mr Trump after the French leader appeared to correct the US President on an assertion about European aid to Kyiv.

Former first minister of Scotland Humza Yousaf told BBC’s Newsnight that the PM should “look at Macron’s performance” and “see that Macron was forceful, robust, firm when he had to be and at the same time, clearly had a good relationship and rapport with President Trump”.

Mr Yousaf said that nobody would be expecting a “Hugh Grant Love Actually moment”, referring to the film scene where a fictional British prime minister stands up to the US, but added: “We do need him to be robust around correcting Donald Trump and any of the inaccuracies should he repeat them, such as Zelensky being a dictator”.

Sir Keir avoided directly criticising the US leader last week after he called Mr Zelensky a “dictator”, but did back the president in a call in which he called him the “democratically elected leader” of Ukraine. Sir Keir marked the third anniversary of the conflict on a call with other allies of Kyiv, telling them that Mr Putin “does not hold all the cards in this war”.

It was an apparent response to Mr Trump’s remarks last week that Russia has “the cards” in any peace talks because it has “taken a lot of territory”. Separately, he told G7 leaders that “a US backstop will be vital to deter Russia from launching another invasion in just a few years’ time”.

Mr Trump has been demanding Europe spend more on defence and Sir Keir is also facing pressure to use this week’s trip to confirm a timeline to raise UK spending to 2.5% of GDP. Elsewhere, the president of the Ukrainian World Congress told a London crowd that “no ally should pressure Ukraine to surrender”.

In a pre-recorded speech, Paul Grod told a Trafalgar Square vigil marking the third anniversary of the invasion that “you cannot negotiate with someone who is seeking to destroy you”. The president of the international non-governmental organisation (NGO), which represents Ukrainian communities in more than 60 countries, described “the horrors, the systemic kidnapping, the torture, and the abuse of Ukraine’s most vulnerable, its children”.