Trump thought Ukraine would lose. Then everything changed, Macron says
Donald Trump, Emmanuel Macron and Volodymyr Zelenskyy (photo: Getty Images)
US President Donald Trump, after coming to power, believed that Ukraine would lose the war started by Russia. However, over time, he became convinced that all those claims made by people around him were false, French President Emmanuel Macron said, France TV reports.
According to him, after coming to power, Trump believed that Ukraine would lose the war, and that was precisely why he insisted on achieving a peace agreement as quickly as possible.
"Remember January-February 2025... He thought Ukraine was losing. Everything went wrong in the Oval Office during the meeting with Zelenskyy, and then... the summit between Trump and Putin (referring to Anchorage - ed.) created hopes for a deal under which Ukraine was being asked to hand over territories that Russia had not even captured yet," Macron said.
He added that after that, in the middle of August, "we went with a delegation" to Washington, where they said that this was impossible. As events unfolded, Trump saw that claims about Ukraine's defeat had been a lie.
"A huge distance has been covered since then. And that path is, above all, the victory of the Ukrainians, their abilities, and their persuasiveness. President Trump saw that everything he had been told - that (the Ukrainians - ed.) would collapse, that they would not survive the winter - turned out to be false. He saw before him courageous, resourceful people whom he respects," the French leader concluded.
Strengthening Ukraine
The G7 summit took place in France this week. As a result, the bloc's countries and the United States agreed to issue licenses allowing the production of air defense systems and long-range weapons in Ukraine.
Media reports also emerged that President Donald Trump had asked military companies in the United States to issue the relevant licenses.
In addition, we reported that after the G7 summit, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy held a phone call with Trump and Macron. The Ukrainian leader emphasized that this conversation could change a lot.
