Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was in Paris talking to Emmanuel Macron last weekend while Rubio, Witkoff and Kushner were meeting with Ukraine officials in Florida. This telephone call is reported to have taken place the following day, on Monday.
French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, Finnish President Alexander Stubb, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy together with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre and European Council President António Costa held a conference call.
A transcript of the call was leaked to Spiegel, a German news outlet. According to the narrative the assembled group of EU leaders were discussing how the Trump administration was going to betray Ukraine in order to get a peace deal with Russia. The gist of the narrative sounds accurate, though some of the EU leaders are denying the specifics of the wording used.
EUROPE – “There is a possibility that the U.S. will betray Ukraine on the issue of territory without clarity on security guarantees,” Macron said, according to Spiegel, adding there was “a great danger” for Zelenskyy. The Élysée did not immediately respond to POLITICO’s request for comment. Spiegel reported the Élysée denied in a statement to the German outlet that Macron spoke of any betrayal. “The president did not use those words,” Macron’s office said, per Spiegel.
Merz chimed in that Zelenskyy had to be “extremely careful in the coming days.”
“They are playing games, both with you and with us,” Merz said, seemingly referring to Washington’s envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner — the son-in-law of American President Donald Trump — who spent five hours locked in talks with Russian leader Vladimir Putin on Tuesday.
Merz’s spokesperson Stefan Kornelius told POLITICO: “As a matter of principle, I do not confirm or comment on snippets of conversation.”
Finland’s Stubb seemed to agree with Merz, according to the transcript. “We cannot leave Ukraine and Volodymyr alone with these guys,” he said, apparently referring to Witkoff and Kushner, which attracted agreement from Rutte.
“I agree with Alexander — we must protect Volodymyr [Zelenskyy],” the NATO chief said. NATO declined to comment when reached by POLITICO.
[…] The call also saw the issue of Russia’s frozen assets discussed, Spiegel reported, with some leaders insisting that seizing Moscow’s billions to fund a massive tranche of financial and military aid for Ukraine was a matter for the EU to decide, not the U.S. (more)
The EU is very worried President Trump may formulate a peace agreement then present the final terms to Ukraine without the EU being involved in the construct of the details.
The EU is opposed to any peaceful end to the conflict, because the EU and NATO have positioned their collective economies to only benefit if the military spending continues; they are backstopping their spending with the confiscated Russian assets.
This phone call is reported to have taken place one day after Witkoff, Kushner and Rubio met with the Ukraine delegation to discuss terms, and exactly one day before Witkoff and Kushner arrived in Moscow. For the Europeans to be sending warning signals to Zelenskyy is really ridiculous.
The Ukraine team was literally with Rubio and the U.S. delegation the day before Witkoff/Kusher left for Moscow.
This call with Zelenskyy doesn’t make sense from the perspective of the EU telling Zelenskyy what is going on, because Zelenskyy’s own team is right there in every moment of the discussions.
This is like a high school social club concerned about optics at prom.
Typical EU pontificating interference.
