French President Emmanuel Macron said that if there is no agreement for Russia-Ukraine peace talks by President Trump’s self-imposed Sept. 1 deadline, then Russian President Vladimir Putin “played” the U.S. commander-in-chief.

Speaking at a joint press conference with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Mr. Macron reminded reporters that Mr. Trump had set Sept. 1 as a deadline to establish peace talks.

“If that doesn’t happen by Monday, the deadline set by President Trump, it means that once again President Putin played President Trump,” Mr. Macron said on Friday.

The French president stated that he still hopes for a meeting between Mr. Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, but if it doesn’t happen, European leaders should impose primary and secondary sanctions to pressure Russia into negotiating a peace deal.

Mr. Merz and Mr. Macron were among the seven European leaders who attended a White House meeting with Mr. Trump and Mr. Zelenskyy last week. The leaders talked about security guarantees for a post-war Ukraine, but no specific agreement was reached.

Mr. Merz pledged that European leaders will not “abandon” Ukraine, but said that Mr. Putin is not showing proof that he is willing to meet with Mr. Zelenskyy, despite Washington’s optimistic prediction that a bilateral meeting will happen.

Last week. Mr. Trump said Russia had two weeks to have a meeting with Ukraine or he would take action.

“We’re going to see whether or not they have a meeting. It’ll be interesting to see. If they don’t, why didn’t they have a meeting, because I told them to have a meeting,” the president said. “But I’ll know what I am going to do in two weeks.”

Also on Friday, Mr. Zelenskyy noted that Mr. Trump’s two-week deadline is quickly approaching.

“Two weeks will be here on Monday. And we will remind everybody,” Mr. Zelenskyy said.

• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.