President-elect Donald Trump stated that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is prepared for “peace” as he shared details of his meetings with world leaders—and First Lady Jill Biden—during his weekend trip to Paris for the reopening of Notre Dame Cathedral.
On Sunday, Trump revealed insights from his discussions with global leaders during his first international trip since securing a second term, including a trilateral meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron and Zelensky.
“He wants to make peace,” Trump told the New York Post in a phone interview. “That’s new.”
“He wants to have a ceasefire,” he added. “He wants to make peace. We didn’t talk about the details. He thinks it’s time, and Putin should think it’s time because he’s lost — when you lose 700,000 people, it’s time. It’s not going to end until there’s a peace.”
Trump did say he spoke to Zelensky about how to end the nearly three-year-old war which began in February 2022. “I’m formulating a concept of how to end that ridiculous war,” said Trump.
Trump also pointed to his Truth Social post, where he mentioned Russia in the context of the fall of the Syrian government.
“What happened there was Russia was not able to step up to the plate because they were all bogged down in this horrible war that never should have happened in Ukraine,” he said.
Trump also disclosed that he discussed NATO with Macron, reiterating his belief that the alliance members should “pay their fair share.”
“I said NATO is good as long as they pay their bills, but they gotta pay their bills because, you know, when I got involved with NATO, nobody paid, and then they paid after I got involved,” the president-elect said.
“He agrees with me,” Trump said of the French president. “He’s a good man. He did a good job. I told him, ‘you have no idea how good a job you did’ on that chapel. That’s very hard to do. Painstaking.”
Trump stated that his private conversation with First Lady Jill Biden inside the cathedral was a positive interaction despite their long history of exchanging harsh remarks during the two election cycles, The Post reported.
“Very nice. She couldn’t have been nicer,” Trump said about their talk.
“It’s politics. You have to get used to it,” he said regarding political differences in the paste. “She was very nice, and we had a very nice conversation.”
The former president made headlines with his firm handshake with Macron, gripping his hand from above.
“It’s just a firm shake. He understands that. It’s just a firm shake,” he said of the shake.
Regarding his meeting with Prince William in the UK, Trump said they had a “great talk” about the Royal Family, noting that both Kate Middleton and King Charles are recovering from cancer.
“I had a great talk with the prince,” Trump said.” And I asked him about his wife and he said she’s doing well. And I asked him about his father and his father is fighting very hard, and he loves his father and he loves his wife, so it was sad. We had a great talk for half an hour, a little more than half an hour. We had a great, great talk.”
The incoming president also told The Post that he had a “great” meeting with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who he went on to describe as having a “lot of energy.”
“I was with her a lot,” Trump said of Meloni, adding that he dined with her during the 60-member world leader reception. “She’s a real live wire, I will tell you. She’s great.”
“We got along great,” of the group of world leaders who visited the reopened cathedral, adding that he hopes they can “straighten out the world a little bit.”
