French President Emmanuel Macron met with United States President Donald Trump in Washington on Monday to urge security guarantees for Ukraine. The week prior, Trump placed into question U.S. involvement in the conflict and called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy a “dictator without elections.”

The Kremlin says it sees potential for co-operation with the US on developing Russia's reserves of rare earth minerals, including from Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine.

Trump's rhetoric at the time sparked a major debate over the future of European security. Macron, who also took office in 2017, began to propose the formation of a "true European army" as an alternative to NATO and famously warned of the "brain death" of the alliance in 2019.

French president, Emmanuel Macron, has been praised for grabbing Donald Trump’s arm and interrupting him mid-interview to correct his false Ukraine claims.

French President Emmanuel Macron said he wants the European Union to boost its military autonomy and alleviate reliance on the US over the next five to 10 years — responding to a long-running demand from Washington.

It comes after Zelensky tells European leaders his country needs security guarantees to prevent Russia invading again in years to come.