Donald Trump says he and European leaders exchanged “pretty strong words” on a call discussing his proposal to end the Ukraine war.
Sir Keir Starmer, France’s Emmanuel Macron and Germany’s Friedrich Merz spoke with Trump late on Wednesday, and said afterwards that it was a “critical moment for Ukraine, its people and for shared security across the Euro-Atlantic region”.
Trump also said Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky “has to be realistic” about his country’s position on a peace plan, and said the US will “make a determination depending on what they come back with”.
The French government said Ukraine’s allies – the Coalition of the Willing – will discuss the negotiations today by video call. Territorial gains, post-war reconstruction and economic development will be among the subjects on the table.
The Trump administration was earlier reported to be pressuring Kyiv into agreeing a rapid peace deal with Russia, with the US president setting a Christmas deadline for an end to the fighting.
During a two-hour call, US envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner are said to have told Zelensky the president wants to see a peace deal agreed within weeks.
