French President Macron Arrives At White House, Will Discuss Ukraine's Fate With Trump

JAKARTA - French President Emmanuel Macron arrived at the White House for talks with US President Donald Trump. The meeting is expected to discuss the prospect of ending Ukraine's war amid dissent over how to proceed.

Macron became the first European leader to visit Trump since he returned to power a month ago.

Reported by Reuters on Monday, February 24, the two leaders will participate in the G7 call, hold bilateral talks and then chair a joint press conference scheduled for local time, Monday, February 24.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer will visit Trump this weekend, amid concerns in Europe over Trump's strong stance on Ukraine and offers Moscow about the three-year conflict.

Macron and Starmer are expected to try to convince Trump not to rush into a ceasefire agreement with Russian President Vladimir Putin in any way, remain involving Europe, and discuss military guarantees to Ukraine.

Trump and his team have negotiated a profit-sharing agreement with Ukraine to get back some of the money that the previous Biden administration had sent to Kyiv in the form of weapons to expel Russia.

Trump said on weekends he believed the deal would be reached soon.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Wednesday rejected a US request of $500 billion in mineral wealth from Ukraine to repay Washington's aid during the war.

Kyiv said so far the US had not provided supplies that were close to the number and did not offer special security guarantees in the agreement.

Macron tried to capitalize on relations with Trump that were built during their first presidential term. He said agreeing to a bad deal meant giving up on Ukraine and signaling weaknesses of US enemies, including China and Iran.

"I will tell him: it should not be weak in front of the President (Putin). It's not you, it's not what you made and it's not in your interest," he said during an hour-long question and answer session on social media ahead of a visit to the White House on Monday.