French President Emmanuel Macron and US President Joe Biden solidified their respective support for Ukraine’s fight against Russia during Biden’s state visit to Paris on Saturday. The leaders released a joint "roadmap"that includes the use of frozen Russian assets to help fund Kyiv’s fight,despite resistance from some allied nations.
Biden warned that if Putin succeeds in Ukraine, “All of Europe will be threatened, but we’re not going to let that happen.” As voting in the European Union elections was ongoing, the president added: “The United States is standing strong with Ukraine. We’re standing with our allies. And we’re standing with France.”
But Macron and Biden are not completely aligned on their approach to the conflict. Last Thursday, Macron laid out plans to deploy Western forces and weapons in Ukraine – despite opposition from the White House, which is more cautious about such escalation.
At a Paris press conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky,Macron said he intends to “finalize” a coalition of countries that will send military trainers to Ukraine notwithstanding Biden’s concerns that they could end up in the line of fire and push NATO into decisions it would rather not make. When asked about this possibility,Macron insisted that it wasn’t about deploying weapons and soldiers to the front line, but about “recognizing Ukraine's sovereignty over its territory.”