President of France, Emmanuel Macron on Saturday called for calm after the clash between the US and Ukrainian leaders at the White House.

According to the French presidency, Macron had also spoken to British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, European Council President Antonio Costa and NATO chief Mark Rutte, on the eve of a meeting of European leaders on Ukraine on Sunday in London.

Recall that in an extraordinary Oval Office meeting on Friday, Trump threatened to withdraw support for Ukraine, three years after Russia invaded its smaller neighbour, alarming Europeans who fear a rushed ceasefire would embolden an expansionist Russia.

“I think that beyond the frayed nerves, everybody needs to calm down, show respect and gratitude, so we can move forward concretely, because what’s at stake is too important,” Macron said.

Macron and Starmer had taken the lead in Europe to convince Trump not to rush to a ceasefire and to provide security guarantees to Ukraine, presenting him with a plan to deploy peacekeepers in Ukraine during meetings in Washington this week.

Macron said that Zelenskyy had told him he was willing to restore dialogue with the United States, including on a deal giving the US access to revenues from Ukraine’s natural resources, but did not say what Trump told him in the call.

“America’s manifest destiny is to be alongside Ukrainians, I have no doubts about that. I want the Americans to understand that withdrawing support to Ukraine is not in their interest,” he said.

The French leader also said that at a planned European Union summit on March 6, he hoped there would be unanimous support for a joint debt plan at the EU level to raise several hundred billion euros for European defence.

Trump vs Zelenskyy: Macron calls for calm