European leaders have rallied around Volodymyr Zelenskyy after his spectacular oval office broke out with Donald Trump, but the gap between kyiv and Washington leaves Europe with dying choices on how to support Ukraine.
The confrontation on Friday, where the American president accused the Ukrainian chief of “playing” with a third world war, provoked the dismay of the European capitals and exacerbated the fears of an irreparable transatlantic breach.
Kaja Kallas, the EU chief diplomat and a fervent supporter of Ukraine, was perhaps the most pointed at his evaluation.
“Today, it has become clear that the free world needs a new leader. It is up to us, Europeans, to take up this challenge, “she said.
Jonas Gahr Støre, the Norwegian Prime Minister, described the extraordinary scenes of the White House as “serious and discouraging”.
“The fact that Trump accuses Zelenskyy of playing with the Second World War is deeply unreasonable and a statement I distant,” he said.
A score of other European leaders closed the ranks behind Zelenskyy without directly criticizing the American president.
“Your dignity pays homage to the bravery of the Ukrainian people. Be strong, be courageous, be intrepid. You are never alone, dear President Zelenskyy, “said Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, and António Costa, president of the European Council.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer promised his “unshakable support”.
French president Emmanuel Macron, who met Trump at the White House on Monday, was the first European leader to defend Zelenskyy on Friday evening, declaring: “I think we all know the situation: there is an attacker, who is Russia, and there is an attacked people, who is Ukraine.”
Friedrich Merz, the Chancellor in German pending, “said Berlin” Standard[s] With Ukraine in good and in testing time. We must never confuse the attacker and the victim in this terrible war. »»
On Saturday, the spokesperson for the CDU foreign policy, Jürgen Hardt, told the public broadcaster Deutschlandfunk: “The champagne caps were to have broken out last night [in Moscow]. “”
Expressions of support for Ukraine – and Trump reprimands, direct or indirect – emphasize how the transatlantic relationship was fractured by the Happy President’s hasty attempts to end the war and repair links with Moscow.
Trump’s antagonistic position towards Ukraine, his threat to suppressing the protection of NATO European Allies who do not spend more for defense, and his wish to impose 25% prices on EU imports has returned that Europe needs to formulate a plan to reduce its dependence on the United States. However, there is no clear plan on how to achieve it in the short term.
The rupture of relations between Zelenskyy and Trump also expresses pressure on the senior European leaders in London on Sunday for a hastily organized summit organized by Starmer.
The summit aims to make proposals to collectively protect Ukraine and stimulate defense expenses, reducing the continent’s dependence on America.
“We must finally wake up and realize:” It’s all “,” said a diplomat of the upper EU in response to the fallout from the White House. “We are alone and the parents on the other side of the Atlantic simply brought us out of the family home, cut our allowances and disinherited us.”
Trump’s verbal aggression against Zelenskyy, which occurred a few days after a dozen European leaders went to Ukraine to mark the third anniversary of the country’s large -scale invasion of the country, breathtaking any persistent hope that they could convince the American president to rethink his approach to a rapid peace agreement.
During their visits to the White House this week, Macron and Starmer made a coordinated attempt to persuade Trump to provide a military safeguard for a possible European stabilization force in Ukraine, which, according to them, was essential. These efforts were derailed by Friday’s force test at the White House.
Friday evening, no 10 Downing Street said that Starmer had spoken to Zelenskyy and Trump and “played his role to find a path to go”.
Giorgia Meloni, a nationalist prime minister of Italy, called for an “immediate summit” between the EU and the United States “to speak frankly about how we intend to meet today’s great challenges, starting with Ukraine”.
There was a notable exception to the choir of European support in Zelenskyy: the Prime Minister of Hungary, Viktor Orbán, rose to the side of Trump.
“Strong men make peace, weak men wage war,” said Orbán. “Today, President Trump was courageously for peace. Even if it was difficult for a lot to digest. Thank you, Mr. President.
Writing on social media Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy of Putin to the Security Council and former president of replacement, described the incident “to dress fierce at the oval office”.
“Trump said to the clown [Zelenskyy] The truth about his face: kyiv’s regime plays with the Second World War. . . It helps. But that is not enough-we have to stop military support ”for Ukraine, he wrote.
