<\/p>\n
Emmanuel Macron has said there is \u201cno mistrust\u201d between Europe and the US, a day after a report claimed the French president had warned privately there was a risk Washington could betray Ukraine<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cUnity between Americans and Europeans on the Ukrainian issue is essential. And I say it again and again, we need to work together,\u201d Macron told reporters during a visit to China on Friday.<\/p>\n On Friday evening, Donald Trump\u2019s advisers and Ukrainian officials said they would meet for a third day of talks after making progress around the table in Florida<\/a> on creating a security framework for postwar Ukraine.<\/p>\n Earlier, Macron said: \u201cWe welcome and support the peace efforts being made by the United States of America. The United States of America needs Europeans to lead these peace efforts.\u201d<\/p>\n The German magazine Der Spiegel on Thursday cited a leaked summary<\/a> of a confidential call between several European leaders in which Macron and the German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, voiced fundamental doubts about US efforts to negotiate between Ukraine and Russia.<\/p>\n The transcript quoted Macron as warning Ukraine\u2019s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, that \u201cthere is a chance that the US will betray Ukraine<\/a> on territory, without clarity on security guarantees\u201d.<\/p>\n The alleged leak risked angering Donald Trump, whom European leaders have been at pains to flatter, knowing he is the key player in any mediation efforts with Moscow.<\/p>\n It also came as European leaders rushed to salvage a sorely needed financing plan<\/a> for cash-strapped Ukraine. Merz held emergency talks on Friday with the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, and Belgium\u2019s prime minister, Bart De Wever.<\/p>\n When asked about the Spiegel report on Friday, Macron responded: \u201cI deny everything.\u201d<\/p>\n Der Spiegel said it had obtained the English summary of Monday\u2019s call, featuring what it said were direct quotations from heads of government.<\/p>\n In the transcript, Macron described the current tense phase of the negotiations as harbouring \u201ca big danger\u201d for Zelenskyy. Merz reportedly added that he needed to be \u201cvery careful\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cThey are playing games with both you and us,\u201d Merz was reported as telling Zelenskyy \u2013 a remark believed to refer to a diplomatic mission to Moscow this week<\/a> by Trump\u2019s envoy Steve Witkoff and the US president\u2019s son-in-law Jared Kushner.<\/p>\n Washington presented a 28-point proposal last month<\/a> to halt the war in Ukraine, drafted without input from Ukraine\u2019s European allies and criticised as too close a reflection of Moscow\u2019s maximalist demands.<\/p>\n US and Ukrainian negotiators have since held talks before Witkoff and Kushner headed to Moscow on Tuesday. The pair spent five hours in talks with Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin and Witkoff then met Ukraine\u2019s national security council chief, Rustem Umerov, in Miami<\/a> on Thursday.<\/p>\n