Reader’s Snapshot
A leaked transcript from a Monday call among European leaders indicates that French President Emmanuel Macron warned the U.S. might “betray” Ukraine in ongoing peace talks with Russia. The discussion, involving NATO officials, Finnish, German, and Ukrainian leaders, centered on protecting Kyiv, the 28-point U.S.-Russia peace plan, and concerns over Washington’s direct negotiations with Moscow.
French President Emmanuel Macron reportedly cautioned that the United States could betray Ukraine during ongoing peace negotiations with Russia, according to a leaked transcript published by German magazine Der Spiegel. The call, held Monday, involved European leaders, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, Finnish President Alexander Stubb, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Macron was quoted in the transcript saying:
“There is a possibility that the U.S. will betray Ukraine on the issue of territory without clarity on security guarantees,” adding that there was “a great danger” for Zelenskyy.
An Elysée official stressed that Macron’s office released its own summary of the call “in which this word [betray] does not figure,” and that his position on peace talks is consistent in public and private.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz reportedly urged Zelenskyy to be “extremely careful in the coming days,” referring to the U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, who spent hours in talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday. Finland’s Stubb and NATO chief Rutte agreed that Ukraine needed protection during the negotiation process.
The discussion followed the Trump administration’s circulation of a 28-point peace plan, reportedly drafted by the Kremlin’s envoy Kirill Dmitriev, Witkoff, and Kushner. Ukrainian and European officials criticized the plan as favoring Russia, prompting revised talks in Geneva that yielded a 19-point plan still unapproved by Moscow.
Other participants in the Monday call, according to Der Spiegel, included European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, and European Council President António Costa. The leaders also discussed Russia’s frozen assets, with some insisting that the EU, not the U.S., should decide how to use the funds for Ukrainian support.
Officials from Ukraine, NATO, and Germany declined to comment on the leaked transcript, warning that publishing such exchanges could damage the diplomatic process.
