France Urges Patience on Trump’s Ukraine Policy as EU Leaders Voice Concerns

France's foreign minister on Monday cautioned against jumping to conclusions about future US policies under Donald Trump towards the war in Ukraine.

Jean-Noel Barrot's warning comes amid some expectations that the incoming Trump administration could seek to broker a peace deal at the expense of Ukrainian interests.

The Washington Post reported Sunday that Trump had talked by phone on Thursday with Russian President Vladimir Putin, telling him not to inflame the conflict.

The Kremlin denied the report, saying it was "completely false information" on Monday.

"Concerning speculation on what might be the positions or initiatives of a new American administration, I believe that we should not prejudge anything," Barrot told the Paris Peace Forum, an annual gathering about international dialogue.

"We need to take the time to work with the administration," he said, adding that France was ready to do so "with ambition, because we believe that we need to give Ukraine the means to push back" the Russian attack.

The international community, said Barrot, "has too much to lose if Russia gets away with a 'might is right' approach".

In any future peace talks "nothing can be achieved on Ukraine without the Ukrainians", he said.

Trump, who won an overwhelming victory in a presidential election this month, has in the past voiced admiration for Putin and scoffed at the $175 billion in US assistance committed for Ukraine since Moscow's 2022 invasion.

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The Ukrainian military regularly reports that Russian forces are resorting to ‘meat assaults,’ sending wounded or poorly trained fighters into battle as cannon fodder.

The 78-year-old tycoon has repeatedly said that he could end the war in 24 hours, without explaining how.

Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen meanwhile told the Peace Forum that Europeans needed to focus on areas where they could make a difference.

"We can concentrate only on what we have influence on, and that certainly is what us Europeans have to do more," she said.

"I hope there will be some good news still this year from the United States," Valtonen added, in an apparent reference to National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan saying Sunday that the White House will spend its remaining $6 billion of Ukraine funding before Trump's presidential inauguration in January.

"I think we can do so much more," the Finnish minister said. "We have the money. We have the capacity."