Don’t prejudge Trump over Ukraine, France says

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PARIS (Reuters) -Ukraine’s allies must not prejudge how Donald Trump will handle the war there, France’s foreign minister said on Monday, as French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer reaffirmed their support for Kyiv during talks in Paris.

Trump has repeatedly criticised the scale of Western aid to Kyiv and has promised to end the conflict swiftly, without explaining how. His victory in last week’s presidential election has spurred concerns in Kyiv and other European capitals about the degree of future U.S. commitment to helping Ukraine.

“Facing the speculation on what could be the positions or initiatives of the new U.S administration, I think that we absolutely should not prejudge and we have to give (the administration) time,” French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot told the Paris Peace Forum.

However, Barrot said any initiatives would have to ensure that Ukraine itself determined the timing and conditions for engaging in a negotiation process. In the meantime, he said, Western allies had to give Kyiv all the necessary means to push back invading Russian forces.

“Ukraine, and beyond that the international community, would have too much to lose if Russia imposed the law of the strongest,” he said.

Separately, Macron’s office said the French president and Britain’s Starmer had discussed the Ukraine situation on the sidelines of Monday’s ceremony to mark the anniversary of Armistice Day, which ended World War One in 1918.

“Concerning the situation in Ukraine, the two leaders reaffirmed their commitment to coordinate closely, stressing their determination to support Ukraine unwaveringly and for as long as necessary to thwart Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine,” it said in a statement.

France’s defence minister said on Sunday that Paris was sending a new batch of long-range missiles to Ukraine so it could strike behind Russian lines.

‘STRONG RELATIONSHIP’

“(Ukraine’s) President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has met President-elect Trump numerous times and I don’t doubt that a strong relationship will be established with the new administration…,” said Barrot on Monday.

Finland’s Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen told the same forum it was time Ukraine’s allies sharpened their analysis of Russia

“It’s not only about Ukraine. The threat that Russia is causing for humankind is existential and does not start or end with Ukraine” said Valtonen, whose country joined NATO last year in response to Russia’s Feb. 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

Trump spoke in recent days with Russian President Vladimir Putin and advised him not to escalate the Ukraine war, a source familiar with the conversation told Reuters on Sunday, though the Kremlin denied on Monday that the two men had spoken.

(Reporting by John IrishAdditional reporting by Mimosa SpencerEditing by Gareth Jones)