(CN) — Following U.S. President Donald Trump’s Oval Office threat to abandon Ukraine, European leaders forged ahead on Monday with their own plans to continue arming Kyiv and even send troops to Ukraine to ensure a lasting peace.
Europe’s role as Ukraine’s main supporter was solidified over the weekend in the wake of the shocking and disastrous rupture between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Trump on Friday.
During a televised clash in the Oval Office, an irate Trump chastised Zelenskyy for not accepting U.S. plans on how to end the war with Russia. This came after Zelenskyy balked at signing a wide-ranging minerals deal with Trump because it did not commit America to protecting Ukraine from future Russian attacks. In the heated exchanges, Trump told Zelenskyy he faced going on without U.S. support and losing the war unless he accepted America’s terms.
In drastic contrast to his Washington visit, Zelenskyy then flew to London where he was hugged by British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, given a meeting with King Charles and celebrated as a hero by crowds.
On Sunday, Starmer held a summit where European leaders, including French President Emmanuel Macron, backed the British leader’s plans to send troops to Ukraine in the event a ceasefire is reached. Crucially, though, Starmer said he would only send troops if he had the backing of the United States.
Starmer said the United Kingdom was ready to put “boots on the ground and planes in the air” to defend a peace deal. The summit ended with an agreement to form a “coalition of the willing” to defend Ukraine.
This week will be marked by a crucial meeting on Thursday where European Union leaders will discuss their next steps on Ukraine amid the growing divide with the U.S. Leaders in the EU are expected to announce a new major aid package for Ukraine worth more than $20 billion. The EU also is looking at how to raise even more funds for both Ukraine and its own defense spending. Options include issuing special defense bonds and using the roughly $200 billion in frozen Russian assets sitting in European banks.
European leaders haven’t given up on Trump and they are urging Zelenskyy and Trump to patch up their differences. But Trump and his Republican allies have continued to attack Zelenskyy with several prominent Republicans saying it would be best if Zelenskyy was replaced by someone else.
Trump’s recent decision to open talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin and sideline both European leaders and Ukraine in those discussions has caused panic and anger in Europe.
While Trump has portrayed his negotiations with Russia as the best way to end the Ukraine war and bring peace to Europe, many experts and leaders are deeply skeptical about his proposals.
“I don’t know that he is genuine about wanting a just and lasting peace for Ukraine,” said Ben Tonra, an international relations professor at University College Dublin, in a telephone interview.
Instead, many in Europe worry Trump is seeking a “reset of relations with Russia” as part of a bigger plan to confront China, Tonra said.
In this context, “the conflict in Ukraine is simply an obstacle to his ambition to reset relations with Russia,” he added.
“He wants to do what they say is a reverse Kissinger and peel Russia off from China so that he can then put up a front to tackle China,” he said, referring to Henry Kissinger’s policy of rapprochement toward China in the 1970s to weaken the Soviet Union.
Regardless of Trump’s motives, his attacks on Zelenskyy and moves to cut off support for Kyiv are bringing Europe and Ukraine even closer together and more committed to carrying on the fight against Russia without Washington.
“My perception is that Europe sees this as a genuine existential threat,” Tonra said about a scenario where Russia prevails in Ukraine.
He said Europeans have good reason to fear Putin would be emboldened if Ukraine is forced into a peace deal that favors Moscow.
“The playbook that he’s used in Ukraine is the playbook he used in Georgia; it’s the playbook he used in Moldova; it’s a playbook he would use in Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, even in Poland,” Tonra said about Putin. “The man is nostalgic for the Soviet Union. The man wants to be seen as a superpower. He’s nuts.”
Tonra said European nations have the ability to arm Ukraine even though their own military stockpiles are limited. That could be done, he said, by buying weapons from Australia, Japan, Turkey and other nations in possession of large amounts of U.S. weapons. Also, Trump could even be willing to sell weapons to Europe that could then be sent on to Ukraine, he added.
For now, though, Tonra said European leaders are hoping to convince Trump to commit U.S. military backing to European troops sent to Ukraine as peacekeepers. So far, Trump has refused to back this plan.
Events, therefore, may be leading to a scenario where European leaders decide to send troops even without U.S. backing.
He said it would be a “huge geostrategic risk” for Europe to go on its own, but many European leaders seem ready to take the gamble.
He added that Europe’s support for Ukraine may give Kyiv enough confidence to reject a peace deal offered on terms set by the U.S. and Russia and carry on fighting.
Courthouse News reporter Cain Burdeau is based in the European Union.