Macron calls next 15 days ‘critical,’ welcomes Trump's intention to provide security guarantees for Ukraine

French President Emmanuel Macron called the next 15 days "critical" and welcomed US President Donald Trump's intention to provide security guarantees for Ukraine.

In an interview with public broadcaster LCI, published on August 19, he said that everything possible must be done in the coming weeks to ensure that a meeting between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Vladimir Putin takes place. "Then, according to the plan, a trilateral summit could take place at the beginning of September," Macron added.

"But there is work to be done on security guarantees. So, the next 15 days are absolutely critical. To finish the work with the Americans, to give meaning to the security guarantees. But first of all, we are going to eliminate ambiguities," the French president said.

The specific content of the security guarantees is still unknown, although Macron said that "the British, French, Germans, Turks and others are ready to carry out operations - not on the front lines, not provocatively, but support operations in the air, at sea and on land." At the same time, he warned that Russia was a destabilizing force and that President Vladimir Putin "rarely kept his commitments."

"I know one thing: since late 2007-2008, President Putin has rarely kept his commitments. He has been a constant destabilizing force and has sought to redefine borders in order to expand his power," the French president said.

"This is a predator, this is a cannibal at our gates. I am not saying that tomorrow there will be an attack [by Russia] on France, but in general this is a threat to Europeans," Macron said.