Former Obama ambassador Michael McFaul applauds Trump’s ‘very positive’ Ukraine meeting with European leaders

Former U.S. Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul heaped praise on President Donald Trump’s Monday White House meeting with European leaders about the Russia-Ukraine war.

The meeting included leaders such as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. McFaul, on an NBC News “Special Report,” said having the many leaders convene was “brilliant” and that the meeting taking place mere days after Trump’s Friday Alaska summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin was valuable.

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“I think that was a very positive meeting. And whoever had the idea to bring all these European leaders together, in addition to President Zelenskyy, that was a brilliant, brilliant idea,” McFaul said. “And having it come so quickly after Alaska was also very important, because now they’ve changed talking points here. Just in this meeting alone, they’ve walked back some of the positions that the president was echoing when he met with President Putin. So this is very positive progress.”

“The fact that they’re talking about a ceasefire again — Chancellor Merz brought it up in particular,” he continued. “There’s no logic — I want to underscore this — this idea that a ceasefire gets in the way of negotiations, that is not historically true. And why should people continue to die while they’re negotiating? So I’m glad that’s back on the table.”

Multiple leaders expressed support for security guarantees analogous to NATO’s Article 5 for Ukraine during the meeting.

“[T]he most important thing is that they’re talking about security guarantees, with European soldiers being a part of that. That is major progress — with American assistance,” McFaul said. “I myself would like NATO guarantees rather than NATO-like guarantees, but if you have to compromise, I think this is an important compromise and a step forward.”

Nearly 70% of Ukrainians want “a negotiated end to the war as soon as possible,” while just 24% back their nation “continuing to fight until victory,” according to Gallup polling conducted in July. CNN chief data analyst Harry Enten noted on “CNN News Central” Monday that at the beginning of the war, Ukrainians had nearly the opposite stance on the war.

Trump has consistently pushed for peace between Ukraine and Russia and vowed to bring an end to the war during his 2024 presidential campaign. He made it clear in a Sunday Truth Social post that he would not allow Ukraine to join NATO.

Putin has also long asserted that Ukrainian NATO membership would be unacceptable to Russia.

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