Ahead of the Notre-Dame Cathedral reopening ceremony, French President Emmanuel Macron held a trilateral meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and US president-elect Donald Trump in Paris on a day that mixed pageantry with attention to pressing global problems.
Zelensky and European leaders have been concerned that Trump, who takes office next month, could withdraw US military aid to Ukraine at a crucial juncture in Kyiv’s battle to repel Russia.
The Ukrainian president said the trilateral meeting was “good and productive” and that the three leaders agreed to continue working together.
“President Trump is, as always, resolute. I thank him,” Zelensky wrote on social media platform X. “We all want this war to end as soon as possible and in a just way.”
The trilateral on Saturday came shortly after Trump had a bilateral meeting with Macron at the Élysée presidential palace.
The two men embraced and shook hands several times on the steps of the French presidential palace, with Trump given a full guard of honour.
“It seems like the world is going a little crazy right now and we will be talking about that,” Trump told reporters as he prepared to sit down for talks with Macron.
Trump’s visit to France, part of a global a celebration of the reopening of Notre Dame Cathedral five years after a devastating fire, came as Macron and other European leaders are trying to win Trump’s favour and persuade him to maintain support for Ukraine in its defence against Russia’s invasion.
