Washington, 24 February 2025 (dpa/MIA) - Russian President Vladimir Putin would agree to European peacekeeping forces to secure a possible ceasefire in Ukraine, US President Donald Trump said on Monday speaking alongside French President Emmanuel Macron who is in Washington for talks.

Asked, "Will you convince Vladimir Putin to accept European troops as peacekeepers?" Trump responded, "Yeah, he will accept."

They were discussing Russia's war on Ukraine, in a meeting that comes on the day of the third anniversary of Russia's all-out invasion and days after Trump falsely blamed Ukraine for starting the war.

It also comes after Trump held a 90-minute phone call with Putin - without Ukrainian or European participation.

Macron meanwhile said talks were under way to find a solution.

"We've seen the US re engagement, and the message that that sends to Mr. Putin, we have deterrence, which will allow a truce to take place, verification of that truce, and then a peace agreement can be put in place so that we can start rebuilding Ukraine with security guarantees," Macron said. according to a translator present.

"And we have a role to play in that. Again, I'm not preempting any discussions, but we've spoken about Ukraine's sovereignty, and that has been a subject of discussion between the US and Ukraine," he said.

Trump also said he wanted to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky this week or next, to talk about US access to Ukrainian raw materials.

Trump said the two countries were very close to an agreement.

The deal would link US aid to Ukraine granting access to its valuable and strategic rare earth resources.

"We're helping Ukraine like nobody's ever helped Ukraine before," said the US president, adding he did not want the war in Ukraine to escalate into a third World War.

Contract about Ukrainian resources

The United States and Ukraine have been wrestling over the contract for weeks. Zelensky initially refused to sign an agreement, saying its conditions were unfavourable for Ukraine.

In addition, it did not contain any security guarantees for his country, he said, which is still fending off Russian attacks in the war launched by Moscow in 2022. Ukraine explicitly demanded such guarantees, though it remains to be seen whether a revised proposal contains them.

According to the Ukrainian public broadcaster, Kiev has already sent a final version of the framework agreement on access to Ukrainian raw materials to Washington.

Earlier, Trump and Macron spoke with leaders from the Group of Seven (G7) leading Western economies from Washington, and were joined by Zelensky who spoke from Kiev.

He called on Trump for them to meet soon, saying, "We need to meet as soon as possible to determine the conditions for peace and security guarantees," according to an Interfax-Ukraine report.

The exploitation of Ukraine's raw materials in Ukraine is considered to be both strategically important and economically lucrative.

But analysts say Kiev is likely to need rare earths and other raw materials for its own reconstruction, even if that means using resources from Russian-occupied Ukrainian territories.

Macron's meeting with Trump comes days after the French president held a conference with the leaders of 19 European countries and Canada to strengthen coordination on Ukraine.

That followed a crisis summit Macron hosted in Paris about a potential peacekeeping force on the ground in Ukraine.

The discussions come as Europe faces a critical question: how to respond to the United States' dramatic shift in its Ukraine policy under Trump.

Washington is seeking to push Zelensky and Putin towards negotiations while transferring responsibility for securing a peace agreement to Europe.

Photo: EPA