Macron urges Putin to accept Ukraine ceasefire in first phone call since 2022
The pair, who had not spoken since September 2022, according to the Élysée presidential palace.
Macron "emphasised France's unwavering support for Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity" and "called for the establishment, as soon as possible, of a ceasefire and the launch of negotiations between Ukraine and Russia for a solid and lasting settlement of the conflict", the French presidential office said.
Putin blamed the West for the Ukraine conflict in his telephone conversation and said any peace deal should be "long-term", said the Kremlin readout of the call.
"Vladimir Putin reminded [Macron] that the Ukrainian conflict is a direct consequence of the policy of Western states," the Kremlin said in a statement. Putin added that Western states had "for many years ignored Russia's security interests" and "created an anti-Russian bridgehead in Ukraine".
The Kremlin said Putin told the French president that any peace deal should be "comprehensive and long-term, provide for the elimination of the root causes of the Ukrainian crisis and be based on new territorial realities".
Putin has previously said Ukraine must accept Russia's annexation of swathes of its territory as part of any peace deal.
Macron seeks diplomatic solution to Iran's nuclear programme, missiles
Macron's office said the French president also stressed the need for Iran to comply with its obligations under the UN's Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and to cooperate fully with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
The French president expressed his "determination" to seek a diplomatic solution that would allow for a lasting settlement of the nuclear issue, the question of Iran's missiles and its role in the region.
Putin told Macron that Iran has a "right" to develop a "peaceful" nuclear programme, said the Kremlin.
The two leaders agreed to coordinate their efforts and to speak again soon, the Élysée statement said.
Attempts at high-level contact between France and Russia
The French leader tried in a series of phone calls in 2022 to warn Putin against invading Ukraine and travelled to Moscow early that year.
He kept up phone contact with Putin after the invasion but talks then ceased, with the last call between the presidents dating back to September 2022.
Macron has over the last year toughened his line against Russia, saying its expansionism is a threat to all of Europe.
The French president has also refused to rule out putting troops on the ground in Ukraine.
In April 2024, Russia's then defence minister Sergei Shoigu and French counterpart Sebastien Lecornu, a close confidant of Macron, held talks focused on security in the run-up to the Olympic Games in Paris.
That was the last official high-level contact between the two countries.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
France 24
30 minutes ago
- France 24
US administration to pause arms supplies to Ukraine
01:35 02/07/2025 Macron urges Ukraine ceasefire in first Putin talks since 2022 02/07/2025 French PM Bayrou survives latest no-confidence motion 02/07/2025 Dalai Lama pledges he won't be the final leader of Tibetan Buddhism 02/07/2025 France protects vulnerable populations amid extreme heat 02/07/2025 US President seeking truce ahead of Netanyahu visit 02/07/2025 Trump says Israel agreed to 60-day Gaza ceasefire, but Israel has not confirmed Middle East 02/07/2025 'Society totally collapsing': Civilians in war-torn Gaza 'desperate, they feel alone and abandoned' Middle East 02/07/2025 US weapons: 'Ukraine is turning towards its other allies' Europe 02/07/2025 'Horrific': Ailing author Sansal 'caught up' in ever-escalating Franco-Algerian diplomatic fallout Africa
France 24
43 minutes ago
- France 24
Is 'AC guilt' justified? French papers divided over use of air conditioning amid heatwave
Russia 's ongoing disinformation efforts are intensifying. Tech magazine Wired says the Kremlin is using free AI tools to fuel "pro-Russian narratives" in many countries overseas, but most notably in Ukraine. This comes in the form of not only videos and pictures, but also QR codes and fake media pages. What's new is the intensity and sophistication of the fakes. The paper cites a report saying that between September 2024 and May 2025, the amount of content "has increased dramatically" and is being viewed by millions of people around the world. But Russia's disinformation efforts aren't just international. Russian independent paper The Moscow Times reports that the Kremlin has launched an online bot campaign inside Russia to justify the country's "biggest utility rate hikes in years". More than 10,000 bot comments were analysed and many of them defended the hikes, framing them as beneficial or simply routine. Some even claimed that wages in Russia are also increasing. Moving to the US, Trump is reigniting fears of a global trade war. This time, the US president is pushing Japan to agree to a trade deal by July 9. The Financial Times reports that Trump is threatening to raise tariffs on Japan again, this time by 30 to 35 percent. Japan Today reports that Trump used the argument that Japan is not importing enough American rice, in a post on Truth Social. The paper says that Trump "singled out Japan in a way he rarely does online". The Wall Street Journal is analysing the divide by looking at the car industry. The American paper cites people familiar with the matter who say that Americans might demand "a cap on the number of vehicles exported by Japan" into the US. But Japanese officials are standing their ground, refusing any deal that preserves Trump's 25 percent auto tariff. The paper says that Trump used the rice argument, despite Japan's imports worth "hundreds of thousands of tons of US rice annually". The Japan Times' s headline asks the question: "Is the shine coming off the US-Japan 'Golden Age'?" The paper says that as recently as January, Trump described the relationship between the two countries as "a friendship like few others", but not even half a year later, cracks are appearing. The trade talks have stalled, and a distance has opened between the US and Japan on what's happening in the Middle East. Staying in Japan, the rigid hierarchies of Japanese companies are pushing people to find innovative ways out. The Washington Post reports that if you're avoiding your boss, "in Japan, you can hire someone to quit your job for you". The article talks about "proxy quitter" companies, whose agents "quit on behalf of clients" who want to avoid the awkward conversation. People use the service because they've been harassed at work, for instance, or if they weren't allowed to express their concerns freely, due to the strict work culture in the country. Finally, Europe's scorching heatwave is igniting a divisive debate in France, and it's all about air conditioning. A "pro-AC" column in right-wing paper Le Figaro notes that more and more French people are thinking of investing in an air conditioner, not without a "certain amount of guilt". Le Figaro asks, however: "Is this guilt really justified?". Left-wing paper Libération asks what the alternatives are and quotes experts who say that adopting energy-consuming AC is a sign of bad adaptation to climate change. And the heated debate isn't just in newspaper columns. "Team air conditioning" versus "team open window" is very much present in the office, writes French newspaper Les Echos. The financial daily says that each person has a different perception of temperature, depending on their sex, health or other factors. And body regulation depends on all of those factors. As a result, adjusting the air conditioning can generate high tensions, particularly in open plan offices.
Euronews
an hour ago
- Euronews
EU and US aim towards agreement to avoid 50% tariffs by 9 July
The EU and the US are moving toward an agreement that would take the form of a headline 'political understanding' to resolve their tariff dispute before the 9 July deadline, rather than a comprehensive deal, according to several diplomats and an EU official. 'If there is to be an agreement, the most realistic outcome would likely be a general framework or a 'principle agreement' — something that, due to time constraints, would resemble the kind of understanding the US has reached with the UK or even with China,' a senior EU diplomat said. 'This would not be a detailed, comprehensive trade deal, but rather a political understanding laying the groundwork for more concrete arrangements," they added. The potential agreement was discussed at a behind-closed-doors meeting in Brussels on Monday, with European Commission officials briefing EU ambassadors about the ongoing negotiations between the EU and the US. Ambassadors were also informed of a new US counterproposal, which offered 'nothing very concrete', one of the diplomats said. Both sides under pressure The EU and the US are under pressure from the looming 9 July deadline, after which US President Donald Trump has threatened to impose 50% tariffs on EU imports if negotiations fail. Since mid-March, Washington has implemented a new policy that calls into question its trade relations with partners across the globe. The US currently imposes tariffs of 50% on EU steel and aluminium, 25% on cars, and 10% on all EU imports. After weeks of fruitless discussions, negotiations between the European Commission — which holds the mandate to negotiate on behalf of the 27 member states in trade matters — and the Trump administration began in mid-June, but their outcome remains in doubt. The Commission initially proposed a zero-tariff agreement on industrial products and an offer to purchase strategic goods such as US liquefied natural gas. But it now appears to be coming to terms with a deal that would maintain a baseline 10% tariff on EU imports. Lower tariffs might then be negotiated for strategic sectors such as aircraft, for which transatlantic production lines are interdependent. However, member states are divided over a potential deal with a baseline 10% tariff. Germany and Italy are reportedly in favour, while countries like Ireland and France remain more sceptical. 'If the US maintain 10% tariffs, there will have to be compensation on goods and products imported from the US,' French president Emmanuel Macron stated on 26 June after an EU summit, adding: 'The levy must be the same — 10% for 10%, or the equivalent of 10%.' A second EU diplomat told Euronews that the agreement could be deliberately short for the two parties to reach further and more detailed agreements in different sectors. "It is not excluded that some sectors could be addressed while others are not," an EU official said. 'Asymmetrical agreement' possible European Commission officials also asked ambassadors to consider several scenarios, including the possibility of an 'asymmetrical agreement' in which the EU would make more concessions than the US, the prospect of no deal, and the option of the EU triggering retaliatory measures. During the same meeting with the member states, the Commission indicated that a second list of countermeasures proposed on 8 May was still under development, according to a third EU diplomat. This list was subject to feedback from industry over several weeks, and member states will still need to adopt it formally. The proposed list targets €95 billion in US products. It would come on top of a first list of retaliation, which covers €21 billion worth of US products and was suspended until July 14 after Donald Trump announced a 90-day truce in the trade dispute. A team of Commission experts is in Washington this week to advance the negotiation. The EU's trade commissioner, Maroš Šefčovič, is set to travel there on Wednesday for a meeting on Thursday with his American counterparts, US Secretary of Commerce Howard William Lutnick and US Trade Representative Jamieson Lee Greer. On Monday, Šefčovič confirmed that the bloc had received 'the first draft of the (US) proposals for the eventual agreement in principle.'
