'No mistrust between US & Europe on Ukraine,' says Macron after leaked call revealed his scepticism

French President Emmanuel Macron said that there is “no mistrust” between Europe and the United States. The proclamation from the French leader came a day after a report claimed that Macron had warned privately that there is a risk of Washington betraying Ukraine during the peace deal negotiation with Russia.

“Unity between Americans and Europeans on the Ukrainian issue is essential. And I say it again and again, we need to work together,” Macron told reporters during a visit to China on Friday. “We welcome and support the peace efforts being made by the United States of America. The United States of America needs Europeans to lead these peace efforts,” he said.

On Thursday, German magazine Der Spiegel cited a leaked summary of a confidential call between several European leaders in which Macron and the German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, voiced fundamental doubts about US efforts to negotiate between Ukraine and Russia. The transcription quoted Macron as warning Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that “there is a chance that the US will betray Ukraine on territory, without clarity on security guarantees”.

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The alleged leaked call has the potential to anger Trump, whom European leaders have been at pains to flatter, knowing he is the key player in any mediation efforts with Moscow. The call also came as European leaders rushed to salvage a sorely needed financing plan for cash-strapped Ukraine.

In light of this, on Friday, Merz held emergency talks with the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, and Belgium’s prime minister, Bart De Wever. When asked about the report by the German outlet, Macron responded: “I deny everything.”

Meanwhile, Der Spiegel said it had obtained the English summary of Monday’s call, featuring what it said were direct quotations from heads of government. In the transcription in question, the French leader described the current tense phase of the negotiations as harbouring “a big danger” for Zelenskyy. Merz reportedly added that he needed to be “very careful”.

“They are playing games with both you and us,” Merz was reported as telling Zelenskyy – a remark believed to refer to a diplomatic mission to Moscow this week by Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff and the US president’s son-in-law Jared Kushner. The call came a month after Washington presented a 28-point peace proposal to halt the Ukraine war.

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What made the proposal controversial was the fact that it was drafted without input from Ukraine’s European allies and criticised as too close a reflection of Moscow’s maximalist demands. US and Ukrainian negotiators have been holding talks since then, as Witkoff and Kushner headed to Moscow on Tuesday.

During their trip to Russia, the pair spent five hours in talks with Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin, and Witkoff then met Ukraine’s national security council chief, Rustem Umerov, in Miami on Thursday. There was no official readout of the Miami meeting, and a Ukrainian official said there were to be further talks in the Florida city on Friday. In the whole exchange, one thing that was constant was the fact that Europe was not involved in the negotiation process. This reflects that the Trump administration is not looking for an intervention from the European leaders, making them more sceptical about the deal.