Macron Corrects Trump on Ukraine Aid as Zelensky Rejects $500B Payback Demand

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Alexis N. Crockett
February 25, 2025
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8 minutes read

(Getty Images)

President Donald Trump downplayed French President Emmanuel Macron’s comments after the French leader corrected him on agreements made between European nations and Ukraine regarding financial aid and compensation. Macron was in Washington, D.C., on Monday for a call with other G7 leaders to discuss strategies to end the war in Ukraine, among other pressing matters.

During the meeting, a reporter asked Macron, “Will France support the U.S. being compensated by Ukraine for the money spent to help them fight the war against Russia?” Macron responded, “I support the idea to have Ukraine first being compensated because they are the ones who have lost a lot of their fellow citizens, and they’re being destroyed by these attacks.

Second, all of those who paid for it could be compensated, but not by Ukraine, by Russia, because they were the ones to aggress.” Trump interjected, “Just so you understand, Europe is loaning the money to Ukraine. They get their money back.” Macron swiftly corrected him.

“No, in fact, to be frank, we paid 60% of the total effort. And it was through, like the U.S., loans, guaranteed grants, and we provided real money. To be clear, we have 230 billion frozen assets in Europe—Russian assets. But this is not as collateral of a loan because this is not our belonging. They are frozen.

If, at the end of the day in the negotiation we will have with Russia, they are ready to give it to us, super. It will be a loan at the end of the day and Russia will have paid for that.” Trump remained unconvinced. “If you believe that, it’s okay with me, but they get their money back. We don’t, and now we do.

But you know, that’s only fair,” he responded. Meanwhile, on Sunday, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky publicly rejected Trump’s demand for a $500 billion share of Ukraine’s deposits of rare minerals as part of a payback deal for U.S. financial and military assistance.

As discussions over financial support and compensation for the war-torn nation continue, tensions between world leaders highlight differing perspectives on how to hold Russia accountable while ensuring Ukraine’s economic stability.