Macron, Starmer to visit Washington for talks on Ukraine

According to Ukrinform, U.S. National Security Advisor Mike Waltz confirmed the upcoming visit in an interview with Fox News on Wednesday.

"President Macron and Prime Minister Starmer of the United Kingdom are coming to Washington next week," Waltz said.

He stressed that their visit is part of broader diplomatic efforts to resolve the conflict in Ukraine.

Waltz said the talks with Russian officials in Saudi Arabia were the first "positive" step in this process. He also highlighted the role of General Keith Kellogg, who is currently in Kyiv, and last week's discussions at the Munich Security Conference involving senior U.S. officials.

"The next step is we're going to put technical teams forward to start talking more details," Waltz added.

He stressed that Europe should take on a greater role in ensuring Ukraine's security.

"I just got off the phone with my counterparts from the UK, France, and Germany and said, 'look, we welcome Europe stepping in and offering security guarantees. We've been asking for years for Europe to step up and contribute more to not only their own defense but Ukraine's defense'," Waltz said.

He also addressed "escalating rhetoric" between Presidents Trump and Zelensky, attributing it to Ukraine's "pushback" on the agreement concerning the development of the country's natural resources.

"I think the frustration really stemmed just in the last week from this bizarre pushback and escalation of rhetoric over a presentation of what we as an absolute opportunity -- and that's to have the United States invest in Ukrainian infrastructure, to have them grow both their minerals, their natural resources, their oil and gas," Waltz said.

Photo: EPA/UPG