French President Emmanuel Macron is set to hold talks with visiting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and US president-elect Donald Trump on the sidelines of Saturday’s Notre-Dame Cathedral re-opening ceremony today.
French President Emmanuel Macron is set to hold a bilateral meeting Saturday with US president-elect Donald Trump on the sidelines of the Notre-Dame Cathedral re-opening ceremony, the Elysée presidential palace said Friday.
Macron's meeting with Trump will be followed by another bilateral meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, said a statement from the Elysée presidential palace.
It was unclear, however, whether the three leaders would hold a joint meeting and no Trump-Zelensky meeting has been officially confirmed.
Ukrainian sources told AFP that there were efforts to arrange a meeting between Trump and Zelensky in Paris.
"The president of Ukraine will attend the celebrations on the occasion of the restoration of the cathedral of Notre-Dame. He will meet with President (Emmanuel) Macron," a source in the Ukrainian government told AFP.
The Ukrainian source said "other meetings are also possible, in particular with president-elect Donald Trump, who will also attend the event."
Trump and Zelensky are among around 40 world leaders on the VIP guestlist for the reopening of Notre-Dame Cathedral on Saturday.
Trump has vowed to force a peace agreement to end the war in Ukraine, boasting during campaigning that he could do so in "one day", with US weapon supplies crucial to Kyiv's battle against invading Russian troops.
Sudden Major Diplomatic Event
Trump's attendance has suddenly turned the Notre-Dame event into a major diplomatic gathering, with many visiting heads of state and government hoping to build relations with the Republican before his January 20 inauguration.
Zelensky's government has been pleading for new weaponry from the outgoing US administration of President Joe Biden as its forces buckle across the eastern front in the face of a grinding pre-winter offensive from Russia.
Moscow said Friday its forces had captured a village near the embattled supply hub of Pokrovsk and another near the industrial town of Kurakhove, gaining further ground in two key areas of the east Ukraine frontline.
Analysts say the next few months will be crucial as both sides jostle for battlefield momentum ahead of what are expected to be peace negotiations imposed by Trump.
Fears in Ukraine about major territorial concessions increased after the US leader named Keith Kellogg, a retired general and critic of US military aid, as his Ukraine envoy last month.
Biden's administration meanwhile, announced an additional $725 million military package for the country on Monday.
UK's Prince William confirms attendance
Britain's Prince William confirmed Friday that he would add some royal stardust to Saturday's religious service and public celebrations at Notre-Dame.
He would attend "at the request of His Majesty's Government on behalf of the United Kingdom" but would travel without his wife, Catherine, who is recovering from cancer.
Saturday's proceedings are set to begin at 7pm (1700 GMT) with Macron due to deliver a speech from a tented area in front of the cathedral which was devastated by a 2019 fire that destroyed its roof and spire.
Paris archbishop Laurent Ulrich will then lead the first full service inside Notre-Dame, symbolically reviving its refurbished 8,000-pipe organ and leading prayers and hymns under the new vaulted wooden roof of the 850-year-old Gothic monument.
The evening will wrap up with a televised concert featuring music by Chinese pianist Lang Lang, South African opera singer Pretty Yende and possibly US singer and fashion designer Pharrell Williams who is widely rumored to perform.
On Sunday, the first mass with 170 bishops and more than 100 Paris priests will take place at 10:30am (0830 GMT) followed by a second service in the evening at 6:30pm which will be open to the public and be attended by Macron.
Around 2,500 tickets for the public mass were reserved within a few hours when they were made available on Tuesday via the cathedral's phone app.
UPDATE 3:10 PM EST --
Macron brought Zelensky in to meet President-Elect Trump. Look at how Zelensky dressed; like a lowly, slovenly, street urchin! He carries himself like a man-child!
This Zelensky character simply has NO CLASS. None. At all.
How dare this wretch show up to the re-opening of the Cathedral of Notre Dame dressed like that? How dare he come to a meeting with a U.S. President, dressed like that?
Zelensky is so low-brow, so unschooled, so ill-mannered, it's disgusting.
