Trump considered Ukraine's defeat inevitable at beginning of his term - Macron

After coming to power, US President Donald Trump believed that Ukraine would lose in the war with russia, which is why he insisted on making peace as soon as possible. However, over time, he became convinced that the forecasts of his entourage were false. French President Emmanuel Macron stated this in an interview with France TV.

According to him, the American leader changed his mind after a series of meetings and negotiations with allies.

"Remember, January-February 2025... He thought that Ukraine would lose. Everything went wrong in the Oval Office during the meeting with Zelenskyy, and then... the summit between Trump and putin raised hopes for an agreement in which Ukraine was offered to hand over territories that russia had not even seized yet," Macron said.

The French leader added that after that, in the middle of August, a European delegation went to Washington, where it clearly stated that such a scenario was impossible. As a result, Trump realized that the statements about the inevitable defeat of Ukraine were a lie.

"A huge journey has been made since then. And this journey is, first of all, the victory of the Ukrainians, their abilities and their persuasiveness. President Trump saw that everything that he was told - that they would fall, that they would not survive the winter - turned out to be untrue. He saw that in front of him were courageous, resourceful people whom he respected," Macron concluded.

As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, US President Donald Trump has significantly changed his attitude towards the russian-Ukrainian war. Previously, he believed that Ukraine had no trump cards and that it should cede territory, but now the situation seems to have changed.