‘The Aggressor Is Russia’: France’s Emmanuel Macron Makes Firm Statement On Ukraine War While Sitting Right Next to Trump

French President Emmanuel Macron referred to Russia as “the aggressor” in its war against Ukraine as the Trump administration has attempted to change the tone of the three-year conflict amid talks to end it.

Macron told reporters on Monday in the Oval Office that Russia was the guilty party as President Donald Trump sat next to him with a displeased look on his face.

Last week, Trump called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky a “dictator” and later implied Ukraine started its defensive war against Russia.

“You’ve been there for three years. You should have ended it,” Trump said of the Ukrainian government. “You should have never started it. You could have made a deal.”

Sunday, Trump administration officials and allies were pressed to call Russia the aggressor in the war by hosts on CNN, NBC News, and Fox News.

In a joint press conference with Trump on the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion, Macron said in no uncertain terms Russia should be made to shoulder the financial burden of starting the war.

When asked about his country lifting a block on billions in frozen Russian assets, Macron replied:

We speak about frozen assets. We already use them for banks for loans negotiated at the G7. And it’s part of the sanctions. So it will depend on the follow-up of the discussions. But clearly, we respect international law. It’s just frozen assets now. You can take the proceeds of the frozen assets, but you can not take the assets themselves, because it’s not respecting international law. And we want to respect that.

[…]

You keep the assets, you take the proceeds because they are finite in a certain way. You think the proceeds during the wartime, but you keep the assets and it’s part of the negotiation at the end of the war, because, I mean, this war goes to the office a lot of money. And this is the responsibility of Russia because the aggressor is Russia.

Watch above via Fox News.