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French Finance Minister Éric Lombard expects the U.S. to support European forces in maintaining peace in Ukraine after a ceasefire agreement is reached.
He made this statement in an interview with Bloomberg Television.
The UK, Germany, France, and other European countries are ready to send troops to guarantee the truce, Lombard said from Cape Town, where he is attending a G20 finance ministers’ meeting.
“We want this ceasefire to be guaranteed by European troops with American support. President Trump said he would agree to that,” Lombard stated.
“If we want the ceasefire to hold, we need U.S. support. I believe the Americans have agreed to do this,” the minister reiterated.
Earlier this week, Lombard and French President Emmanuel Macron visited Washington to discuss Ukraine and trade with their American counterparts, President Donald Trump and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
Lombard is attending the G20 finance ministers’ meeting despite the U.S. and Argentina skipping the event following Trump’s public dispute with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa over national land laws, equality policies, and the war in Gaza.
French officials stated that Lombard aims to reaffirm France’s commitment to multilateralism and demonstrate European unity in response to Trump’s challenge to the global order.
On February 24, Trump publicly supported deploying European forces to monitor a potential “ceasefire” in Ukraine and suggested that the U.S. might provide some level of assistance.
However, media reports indicate that Trump did not give French President Macron any concrete commitments regarding support for the European contingent.
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