French President Emmanuel Macron spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and former U.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday, urging calm after Trump warned he could cut U.S. support for Ukraine.
📌 What happened?
Trump threatened to withdraw support for Ukraine during a White House meeting.
Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer are pushing for European security guarantees for Kyiv.
⚠️ Why it matters?
European allies worry a rushed ceasefire could strengthen Russia.
Macron hopes to secure EU backing for a major defense funding plan.
French President Emmanuel Macron spoke Saturday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and former U.S. President Donald Trump, calling for calm after a tense White House meeting between Trump and Zelenskyy the day before.
The French presidency said Macron also spoke with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, European Council President Antonio Costa, and NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte ahead of a European leaders' meeting on Ukraine set for Sunday in London.
During an Oval Office meeting on Friday, Trump warned he could withdraw U.S. support for Ukraine, alarming European allies who fear a rushed ceasefire could embolden Russia three years after its invasion.
“I think that beyond the frayed nerves, everybody needs to calm down, show respect and gratitude, so we can move forward concretely, because what’s at stake is too important,” Macron said in an interview published Sunday.
Macron and Starmer have been leading European efforts to convince Trump not to push for an immediate ceasefire and to provide Ukraine with security guarantees. During meetings in Washington, they presented a plan that includes deploying peacekeepers in Ukraine.
Macron said Zelenskyy had expressed willingness to "restore dialogue" with the U.S., including discussions on a deal granting U.S. access to revenues from Ukraine’s natural resources. He did not disclose what Trump said in their call.
“America’s manifest destiny is to stand alongside Ukrainians—I have no doubt about that,” Macron told La Tribune Dimanche. “I want Americans to understand that pulling support from Ukraine is not in their interest.”
Macron also said he hopes European leaders will back a joint debt plan at an EU summit on March 6, aiming to raise "several hundred billion euros" for European defense.
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Kazakhstan has vowed to speed up its investigation into the Azerbaijan Airlines (AZAL) crash near Aktau, as mounting diplomatic pressure and geopolitical tensions push the disaster further into the international spotlight.
U.S. President Donald Trump has said the United States has a “virtually unlimited supply” of munitions and is capable of sustaining military action indefinitely, as the conflict with Iran entered its fourth day.
The United Nations has called for an investigation into a deadly attack on a girls’ primary school in Iran, which Iranian officials say has killed more than 100 children. The U.S. has said its forces “would not” deliberately target a school.
Shahid Motahari Sub-Speciality Hospital in northern Tehran and parts of the Golestan Palace were bombed on day two of the U.S.‑Israel strikes. AnewZ Touraj Shiralilou is in Iran's capital city and said that the facility was flattened in an airstrike.
The Kremlin is utilising the recent United States and Israeli military strikes on Iran to validate its ongoing war in Ukraine. Russian officials are pointing to the escalation in the Middle East as evidence that Western nations do not adhere to international rules.
Saudi Arabia’s state oil giant Saudi Aramco closed its Ras Tanura refinery on Monday following an Iranian drone strike, an industry source told Reuters as Tehran retaliated across the Gulf after a U.S.-Israeli attack on Iranian targets over the weekend.
The Middle East crisis intensifies after the deadly attack on the compound of the Supreme Leader of Iran Ali Khamenei on Saturday that killed him, other family members and senior figures. Iran has launched retaliatory strikes on U.S. targets in the region.
U.S. President Donald Trump said the U.S. military has enough stockpiled weapons to fight wars "forever"; in a social media post late on Monday. The remarks came hours before conflict in Iran and the Middle East entered its fourth day.
Türkiye raised its security level for Turkish-flagged vessels in the Strait of Hormuz to Level 3 on Sunday (2 March). The development follows Iranian restrictions on shipping after U.S. and Israeli strikes and confirmation of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s death.
Strikes across the Middle East are intensifying, fuelling travel disruption, driving up global energy prices and forcing diplomatic missions to shut their doors as tensions continue to rise.
U.S. President Donald Trump has said the United States has a “virtually unlimited supply” of munitions and is capable of sustaining military action indefinitely, as the conflict with Iran entered its fourth day.
The United Nations has called for an investigation into a deadly attack on a girls’ primary school in Iran, which Iranian officials say has killed more than 100 children. The U.S. has said its forces “would not” deliberately target a school.
U.S. first lady, Melania Trump chaired a UN Security Council meeting on children and education in conflict on Monday (2 March), a move criticised by Iran as hypocritical following U.S. and Israeli strikes that triggered a UN warning about risks to children.
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