Macron: Zelenskyy-Putin meet agreed, U.S. sanctions envisaged if Russia proves insincere

French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday (August 18) said that a Zelenskyy-Putin meeting had been agreed upon during a multilateral meeting held in Washington with Donald Trump, Zelenskyy and several EU leaders.

He added that Trump had said U.S. sanctions on Russia were on the table if Russian President Vladimir Putin proved reluctant to commit to meaningful steps in the peace process.

"(Trump) signalled his willingness and readiness to impose what he calls primary and secondary tariffs. But which we, in fact, call sanctions," Macron said.

"President Trump believes in his ability to reach an agreement, and he also believes that President Putin wants such a peace agreement. I welcome this and I want to believe in it after the meetings there were. But if this process were rejected, we also all agree that sanctions would have to be increased and, in any case, a stance would have to be adopted that would put more pressure on the Russian side to return to the negotiating arena."

Macron also told reporters that the U.S. President had agreed to work with his partners of the 'Coalition of the willing' on the content of security guarantees meant to safeguard a potential peace deal.

He further insisted that European leaders had to be present at the negotiating table in later stages, along with Turkey and "all those whose security is directly affected by the continuation of this conflict."

Macron also expressed his doubts on Russia and Putin's desire for peace, saying "as long as he (Putin) thinks he can win through war, he will do so."

"His ultimate objective is to take as much territory as possible, to weaken Ukraine and to have a Ukraine that is not viable alone or is within the Russian fold."

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