President Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday sparred over the amount of money European nations provided to Ukraine to support its war with Russia.

In recent weeks, Mr. Trump has blasted European nations for not providing enough aid to Ukraine and claiming that the money they have provided was in the form of a loan, meaning Kyiv will at some point pay it back.

He has used that as a cudgel to hammer President Biden, who provided billions in Ukraine aid without requesting anything in return.

At the White House on Monday, Mr. Macron pushed back on Mr. Trump’s criticism.

“To be frank, we paid 60%. We paid 60% of the total defaults. And it was like the U.S. loans guarantee grants and we provided real money,” Mr. Macron told his U.S. counterpart in the Oval Office.

“To be clear, we have $230 billion frozen assets in Europe. Russian assets,” he said. “But this is not as collateral of the loan, because this is not our belonging. So they are frozen. If at the end of the day, the negotiation, we will have this. Russia, they’re ready to give it to us. It will be a loan at the end of the day.”

“If you believe that. It’s OK with me,” Mr. Trump fired back, in an otherwise friendly meeting.

Mr. Trump also said during the meeting that Russian President Vladimir Putin would accept European troops to serve as peacekeepers in post-war Ukraine. Mr. Macron has offered French troops to protect the area as part of a peace deal.

“He has no problem with it,” Mr. Trump said of his Russian counterpart. 

The Oval Office meeting was part of a day of diplomacy between the two leaders to discuss the future of Ukraine and a possible end to its war with Russia, a conflict that marked its third anniversary Monday.

Earlier Monday, the two participated in a call with the leaders of the seven largest global economies.

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