French President Emmanuel Macron has warned that the United States may be about to "betray" Ukraine. This is clear from a leaked transcript of a conversation between European leaders discussing a strategy to defend Kiev, reports "Politico".
Details of the phone call, which took place on Monday and involved Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, Finnish President Alexander Stubb, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and others, were published by the German newspaper "Spiegel". In it, the leaders discussed the US-led peace talks with Kiev and Moscow.
"There is a possibility that the US will betray Ukraine on the issue of territory, without clarity on security guarantees," Macron noted, adding that there was "a great danger" for Zelensky.
The Elysee Palace denied in a statement to the German publication that Macron had spoken of betrayal. "The president did not use those words," Macron's office said.
Merz added that Zelensky should be "extremely careful in the coming days."
"They are playing games, both with you and with us," the German chancellor said, apparently referring to Washington envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner - son-in-law of US President Donald Trump - who spent five hours in talks with Russian leader Vladimir Putin on Tuesday.
Merz's spokesman, Stefan Cornelius, said: "In principle, I do not confirm or comment on excerpts from the conversation."
According to the transcript, Finnish representative Stubb agreed with Merz. "We cannot leave Ukraine and Volodymyr alone with these people," he said, apparently referring to Witkoff and Kushner, which prompted Rutte's agreement.
"I agree with Alexander - we must protect Volodymyr Zelensky," the NATO director-general said.
The conversation took place after the Trump administration circulated a 28-point peace plan - reportedly drawn up by Kremlin envoy Kirill Dmitriev, Witkoff and Kushner - that was criticized by Ukraine and European allies as too favorable to Russia and sparked intense negotiations in Geneva.
Subsequent talks, attended by European, Ukrainian and US representatives, resulted in an updated 19-point plan to which Russia has yet to agree. Moscow has not given up on its maximalist demands, namely that Kiev give up vast swaths of unoccupied territory in its east, limit the size of its military forces and hold new elections.
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 Antonio Costa also took part in the phone call on Monday.
The issue of Russia’s frozen assets was also discussed during the call, with some leaders insisting that seizing Moscow’s billions to finance a huge tranche of financial and military aid to Ukraine is a matter for the EU, not the US, to decide.