Macron blown out by Trump ? "You can do it yourself"

"Macron has failed to convince the US president to commit to supporting some sort of European troop deployment in Ukraine to contain Russia in some sort of post-war settlement scenario," the article said.

Also, according to the source, Macron thought Trump was more accommodating than he actually turned out to be.

After the talks in Washington, the French president said that he wants a quick agreement on security guarantees for Kyiv, and he also claimed that he managed to secure Trump's support regarding those guarantees that Europe intends to provide to Ukraine.

"There are Europeans who are ready to provide these security guarantees. Now there is a clear American message that the US, as an ally, is ready to provide that solidarity for this approach. It is, in my opinion, a turning point," Macron said after the meeting with Trump.

Paris, London and other European capitals have declared that they are ready to shoulder most of the burden of post-war security in Ukraine.

But given their limited capabilities, they called on American logistical and intelligence support and ultimately their military protection to make the mission a success, something that both Macron and Starmer described as American "backup", the article assesses.

Trump surprisingly announced that Russian President Vladimir Putin would accept the presence of European troops in Ukraine, although Moscow rejected that possibility last week.

"I specifically asked him that question and he has no problem with it," Trump said.

Earlier in the day, when Trump was asked if European troops would have US support, he said:

"We will have some kind of support. It's obvious that European countries will be involved," Trump said and soon added that he did not believe that European countries would "need much support" because he believed that Russia would abide by the agreement.

The Financial Times estimates that Macron walked a fine line during his visit to the White House by studiously avoiding criticism of Trump, cracking jokes and giving the president a goodbye hug.

But Macron also denied Trump's claim in front of reporters that the US provided much more aid to Ukraine than to Europe, or that it was all loans, the article concludes.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov did not confirm US President Donald Trump's statement that Russia supports the idea of ​​deploying European peacekeeping forces in Ukraine after the end of the conflict, but referred to the statement of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov that sending forces from NATO countries is unacceptable.

"I have nothing to add to this, nor to comment," Peskov said.

Lavrov on February 18, after talks with the US delegation in Riyadh said that the expansion of NATO represents a direct threat to the interests of Russia, as well as that the deployment of peacekeeping forces from the alliance countries in Ukraine would be unacceptable for Moscow.

The Russian MFA previously warned that Moscow has a negative attitude towards the idea of ​​bringing a European peacekeeping contingent to Ukrainian territory and considers it a step towards escalation of the conflict.

Earlier, the Telegraph newspaper, citing sources in the British government, reported that the leaders of Great Britain and France secretly discussed the joint deployment of "peacekeeping forces" in Ukraine after the end of the conflict.

The press office of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service previously reported that the West will deploy a so-called peacekeeping contingent of about one hundred thousand people in the country to restore Ukraine's combat readiness.

They estimate that this would represent a de facto occupation of Ukraine.