President Donald Trump welcomed French President Emmanuel Macron to the White House for talks on Monday at a moment of deep uncertainty about the future of transatlantic relations, with Trump transforming American foreign policy and effectively tuning out European leadership as he looks to quickly end Russia’s war in Ukraine.

President Donald Trump said he was hopeful that Russia's war in Ukraine was nearing an endgame as he met on Monday with French President Emmanuel Macron on the third anniversary of the invasion. Trump,

I think Ukrainians are more worried than ever about the pressure they’re being put under and now, of course, supporters of President Trump - apologists for the way he works - say that he throws out verbal gambits to make people drop long-held positions to make a deal.

French President Emmanuel Macron, left, greets Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer as he arrives for an informal meeting of leaders from key European Union nations and the United Kingdom at

The prime minister says a "US security guarantee is the only way to effectively deter Russia from attacking Ukraine again".

The leaders of France and Britain are making tag-team visits to Washington this week. It's part of European efforts to persuade President Donald Trump not to abandon Ukraine in pursuit of a peace deal in the three-year-old war with Russia.

But the risks of the prime minister's trip are huge. The famously thin-skinned president could take offence at Sir Keir's outright contradiction of his claim that Zelensky is a dictator. He could be irritated by Sir Keir's insistence that any European reassurance force deployed to Ukraine must have a US "backstop", expected in the form of aircover.

United Kingdom Prime Minister Keir Starmer and France's President Emmanuel Macron have been meeting advisors ahead of important and difficult visits to the United States in the coming days, during which they will try to rebuild Europe's fast-eroding relationship with its traditional ally.

The US Commander in Chief has continued to rage against Europe in his latest interview, this time targeting nuclear leaders Sir Keir and President Emmanuel Macron

French president is headed to Washington on Monday. U.K. prime minister will follow on Thursday.