Macron: Trump changed his mind on Ukraine after meeting with Putin in Alaska

French President Emmanuel Macron said that Donald Trump, upon coming to power, was convinced that Ukraine’s defeat was inevitable, but subsequently changed his position.

Macron spoke about this in an interview with the French television channel France TV.

“When he came in, he thought Ukraine would lose. That is why he wanted to make peace quickly,” Macron said.

According to the French president, Trump believed at the time that Ukraine would not be able to hold out for long.

Macron also recalled the meeting between Trump and Vladimir Putin in Alaska, where, in his words, a deal was “almost put on the table” that would have involved handing Russia territories it did not yet control at that point.

Describing the change that had taken place since then, Macron quoted his own assessment of the situation:

“Then an enormous journey was made. That journey is above all a victory for the Ukrainians in their capability and their reliability. President Trump saw that all the talk about them collapsing and not surviving the winter was madness. And that before him were courageous, resourceful people whom he respects,” Macron said.

As Strana previously reported, the main goal of Kyiv and the Europeans at the recent G7 summit was to persuade Trump to abandon the Anchorage agreements with Putin. After the summit, several European leaders, as well as the Canadian prime minister, made statements saying that Trump had changed his point of view and aligned himself with Europe and Kyiv on the question of ending the war.

Trump himself has so far made no statements about stepping back from the agreements reached in Anchorage. His rhetoric remains focused on calls for both warring sides to reach agreement on ending the war as soon as possible.