Muhamad Yehia
The video conference was convened by António Costa, the president of the European Council, in anticipation of an emergency summit on 6 March.
European Union leaders joined a video conference on Wednesday morning to hear directly from Emmanuel Macron about his recent meeting with Donald Trump in Washington, which saw both presidents commit to bringing peace to Ukraine but disagree on the best way forward.
Trump doubled down on his goal to end Russia’s war “within weeks” while Macron warned against rushing to a ceasefire that the Kremlin could exploit to its benefit.
“We had a ceasefire in the past that was not respected,” Macron said, referring to the Minsk agreements that failed to end the Donbas war.
Sitting together in the Oval Office, Macron was forced to fact-check Trump after the American claimed Ukraine would pay back the aid the EU has donated.