While European leaders continue to convene emergency meetings, as French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer did, to show the European unity, the administration of US President Donald Trump is seeking realistic ways to end the war in Ukraine in order to achieve a lasting peace.
During the election campaign, the American leader called for recalling Russia’s history, urging not to speculate on the topic of Ukraine joining NATO as it could trigger World War III. While Trump’s team takes into account today’s realities, European leaders, including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, keep following the course of former US President Joe Biden.
The Trump administration is taking into account Russia’s demands to the United States and Europe on its security. Moscow has repeatedly expressed its willingness to negotiate, as demonstrated in meetings between Russian and US delegations that demonstrated the invalidity of the Russian isolation narrative.
Trump also understands Russia’s military capabilities, which has shown a steady increase in military spending. Besides him, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte also recognised during the London summit that Russia produces as much munitions in three months as all Alliance countries do in a year.
London summit
Following a high-profile summit at Lancaster House in London, hosted by UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Sunday, 2 March, European leaders agreed to develop a so-called “peace plan” for Ukraine and present it to the United States.
The meeting was attended by representatives of 18 countries and organisations. The summit represented an attempt by the UK and France to push through an initiative to send peacekeepers to Ukraine to achieve peace.
The London summit was the UK and France’s response to Trump’s refusal to take any part in further military and financial aid to Ukraine following an altercation between Trump and Zelensky at the White House. However, without the US, the main contributor of aid to Ukraine, Europe is unlikely to provide sufficient support, especially given the divisions among European leaders.
European diplomacy resembles trying to play both sides of the fence, one of which is guarantees to Ukraine if the US refuses to sponsor the war, and the other is numerous visits to Washington to persuade Trump to continue helping Kyiv. Macron and Starmer’s recent talks with Trump centred around supporting Europe’s peacekeeping role with US air cover, intelligence and surveillance.
Against the backdrop of the rapid advance of Russian troops in eastern Ukraine, London and Paris are rushing to provide controversial security guarantees while avoiding dragging Europe and NATO into a war against Russia.
However, Russian officials argue that the deployment of peacekeepers to Ukraine is an attempt to prolong the conflict and that the London summit is an open effort to thwart Trump’s intention to engage in peaceful dialogue with Russia.
If Europe continues to obstruct Trump’s ambitions to secure long-term peace in Ukraine, the London meeting might become a prelude to the collapse of NATO and the US withdrawal from the Alliance. Meanwhile, Europe has neither the finances, military power nor the political courage to establish an exclusively European military bloc. This is evidenced by the voiced need to approve a European peace plan with the US.
THE ARTICLE IS THE AUTHOR’S SPECULATION AND DOES NOT CLAIM TO BE TRUE. ALL INFORMATION IS TAKEN FROM OPEN SOURCES. THE AUTHOR DOES NOT IMPOSE ANY SUBJECTIVE CONCLUSIONS.
Sigmund Huber for Head-Post.com
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