Macron: Europe Must Be Ready to Defend Ukraine Without the Help of the United StatesKurt Zindulka 6 Mar 2025
French President Emmanuel Macron said in an address to the nation on Wednesday evening that Europe should be prepared to defend itself and Ukraine without the help of the United States, a demand long made by President Donald Trump.
President Macron said France and the rest of Europe cannot “remain spectators” to the war in Ukraine and must seek drastic rearmament to be able to protect the continent without America. The French leader said that he “wants to believe that the United States will stay by our side” but added, “we have to be ready if that is not the case”.
“The future of Europe does not have to be decided in Washington or Moscow. The threat is returning to the east, and the innocence of the last 30 years, since the fall of the Berlin Wall, is now over,” Macron declared per Le Figaro.
Alongside British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, Macron has been leading calls to deploy a pan-European “coalition of the willing” peacekeeping force into Ukraine. However, the UK and others in Europe have signalled that such a military operation should only be carried out with the backing of the United States to underwrite their security.
The Trump administration has argued that any European peacekeeping mission in Ukraine should not be considered an act of NATO, as the troops on the ground could serve as a tripwire for a direct conflict between Russia and the United States, the world’s two largest nuclear powers. The White House instead has said that an economic alliance with Ukraine, in the form of a large-scale mineral rights deal, could serve as a deterrent against future Russian aggression.
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https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2025/03/06/macron-europe-must-be-ready-to-defend-ukraine-without-the-help-of-the-united-states/
