On the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, European countries found themselves in a transatlantic rift with their US allies.
Under President Donald Trump, the US and Russia launched peace talks, removing Ukraine and Europe from the process.
Many European leaders who are unhappy with Trump’s actions regarding Ukraine are now working to come up with ways to provide security assurances to war-torn countries.
This is what European leaders do to support Kiev:
How did you get here?
This month, Trump spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin and agreed to hold peace talks with Russia. This sparked concerns between European leaders and Ukrainian President Voldimi Zelenkie that they were being excluded from consultations.
“There is no decision about Ukraine without Ukraine. …When decisions are made about Europe, Europe must have a seat at the table,” he said at the Munich Security Conference on February 15th. .
On February 17th, French President Emmanuel Macron hosted European leaders for an emergency summit at the Elysee Palace in Paris to discuss security assurances in Ukraine. A day later, top diplomats from the US and Russia met in Saudi Arabia without Ukraine or Europe at the table. Both countries said they discussed repairing their relationship.
Since then, Trump and Zelensky have been caught up in a war of words. Trump called the Ukrainian leader “dictators” and accused Ukraine of starting a war with Russia. Zelenskyy fought back by saying that the US president lives in a Russian-made “disinformation space.”
What do European leaders do about it?
Leaders of the 27 European Union countries will convene for the emergency summit on March 6th. Council of Europe President Antonio Costa announced on Sunday that the meeting will take place in Brussels. The summit is about security in Ukraine and Europe.
“We live in a critical moment for the safety of Ukraine and Europe,” he wrote on social media.
EU leaders last met on February 3rd to discuss ways to avoid a tariff war with the United States.
The EU is developing a military aid package for Ukraine worth at least 20 billion euros (approximately $21 billion), three EU diplomats told Politico.
A US news site reported that aid packages could consist of cash and military hardware, such as missiles and artillery fire. EU foreign policy director Kaja Kallas is behind the push to replenish military aid to Kyiv.
The Trump administration hopes to provide security guarantees to Ukraine and take driver seating in Europe, noting that the US has other priorities, such as border security.
European countries must deal with Russian territorial ambitions. Russia’s territorial ambitions “only US support will be greater,” Kiel Giles, a senior consulting fellow at a think tank at London-based Chatham House, told Al Jazeera.
Giles added that the US leaders are clearly “to exercise hostile leverage” in order for the Russian peace conditions to be accepted.
“European countries are troubled by their inability to demonstrate military power, the only currency that is shaking with Russia and the US deterrence,” Giles said.
What messages are European leaders sending to Trump?
Macron and British Prime Minister Kiel Starmer will visit Washington separately this week to talk about Trump from abandoning Ukraine.
Starmer’s Office said Starmer and Macron spoke on the phone on Sunday, and concluded that Europe must “show unified leadership to support Ukraine in the face of Russian invasion.”
The Russian Deputy Minister said on Saturday that preparations for the Trump Putin Summit are also underway.
Macron will meet Trump at the White House on Monday, and starmer will visit the US president on Thursday.
“I’ll tell him [Trump]’Deep, you can’t be weak in the face of the president [Putin]. It’s not you. It’s not what you’re making and it’s not your interest,” Macron said in a social media question and answer session Monday before his visit.
Priority told the Scottish Labour Party Conference in Glasgow on Sunday: future. “
But Trump said on Friday’s Brian Kilmead show on Fox News Radio that his ancestors and Macron “didn’t do anything” to end the Ukrainian war.
“A procession of leaders heading to Trump’s court in Washington, a procession of leaders trying to cajole him, and a procession of leaders trying to convince Putin not to invade Ukraine at the end of 2021. , there are clear similarities between periods,” Giles said.
In November 2021, then CIA director William Burns visited Moscow to discuss US-Russia relations, and in February of the following year, Macron and British Secretary of Defense Ben Wallace flew to Russia and persuaded Putin to Ukraine. He tried to convince him to defeat the tension. .
How widespread is Ukraine’s support?
As Ukraine celebrates the third anniversary of Russian invasion, many leaders are in Kiev to show their support.
Leaders, including European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, were greeted by Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sibiha and Zelenki’s Chief of Staff Andry Yamak.
Costa, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, Latvian President Edgars Rinkevis, Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda and Estonian Prime Minister Kristen Michal also arrived in Kiev on Monday.
Local reports show that Finland’s President Alexander Stubb, Danish Prime Minister Mette Fredericksen, Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Garne and Swedish Prime Minister Wolf Christerson are also in the Ukrainian capital.
“Let’s be clear: Free and sovereign Ukraine is not just about European interests,” von der Leyen wrote in X’s post.
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