Le Pen
offers to meet Zelenskyy in Brussels
The
Ukrainian leader wants to persuade the far-right leader to continue supporting
Ukraine if she becomes president of France.
Marine Le
Pen delivers a speech during a visit of the "Salon Made in France" at
Parc des Expositions of Porte de Versailles, in Paris on November 13, 2026. |
Geoffroy van der Hasselt/ AFP via Getty Images
November 13,
2026 7:07 pm CET
PARIS —
Far-right leader Marine Le Pen said she would be prepared to hold talks with
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Brussels, in the wake of her
promises to stop French financial aid to Ukraine.
Speaking on
the sidelines of a trade fair in Paris, Le Pen said a meeting in Brussels would
be “justified” because “the topic of Ukraine financing is rattling Europe.”
“The German
chancellor is starting to threaten people, it’s starting to be an issue in
Europe and it would be interesting to discuss this,” she said in a reference to
Friedrich
Merz’s threats to cut EU funds for countries who refuse to support Ukraine
financially.
Le Pen said
she would offer to hold talks with Zelenskyy when she meets the Ukrainian
ambassador in France on Monday.
The
far-right leader is the front-runner ahead of next year’s presidential election
and has repeatedly said France can no longer afford to keep financing Ukraine’s
war effort. She has estimated that French aid amounts to €6 billion per year, a
figure Zelenskyy has challenged. He said the military partnership with Paris is
“a win-win” relationship.
Zelenskyy
also invited Le Pen to Kyiv, telling French weekly l’Express that Le Pen would “change
her mind” if she met Ukrainians.
Financial
aid to Ukraine has become an issue in next year’s presidential election amid
difficult budget negotiations. This month far-left leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon
also courted controversy when he said that a post-war referendum on the future
of the Donbas should be held in the area, which is mostly under Russian
occupation.
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