Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, speaking in a phone call with U.S. President Donald Trump on July 25, said that French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel were not doing as much as they could with sanctions to help Ukraine in the fight against Russian aggression, according to the phone call memorandum released by the White House on September 25.
“Yes you are absolutely right. Not only 100 percent, but actually 1000 percent and I can tell you the following; I did talk to Angela Merkel and I did meet with her. I also met and talked with Macron and I told them that they are not doing quite as much as they need to be doing on the issues with the sanctions. They are not enforcing the sanctions. They are not working as much as they should work for Ukraine,” Zelensky told Trump.
“It turns out that even though logically, the European Union should be our biggest partner but technically the United States is as much a bigger partner than the European Union and I’m very grateful to you for that because the United States is doing quite a lot for Ukraine. Much more than the European Union especially when we are talking about sanctions against the Russian Federation,” he said.
