Europe was caught by surprise by Donald Trump who, with its peace plan in Ukraine negotiated directly with Vladimir Putin, has practically excluded it from the table (together with Ukraine herself). In Brussels you can frantically work to study a strategy that avoids what Emmanuel Macron has called a “capitulation” to Russia, with very high costs for the blockade and which would sanction the total failure of the strategy adopted so far in support of Volodymyr Zelensky.
The “capitulation”
A “peace that is a capitulation” would be “bad news for everyone”, including the United States, warned the French president in an interview with the Financial Times. “The only question to ask yourself in this phase is if President Putin is really, durablely and credibly willing to accept a ceased on these bases. After which, it is up to Ukrainians to negotiate with Russia,” Macron said.
Trump slap in Europe: “I would like to get Putin back to the G7”
“Peace in Ukraine and European security are inseparable. Peace cannot be a simple fire. Russia no longer has to be a threat to Ukraine, Europe and international security”, has Written on X the President of the European Council, Antonio Costa.
Even for the Portuguese socialist “there will be no credible and successful negotiations, nor a lasting peace, without Ukraine and without the EU”. “Any quick solution on Ukraine is a dirty affair and will not work,” he thundered the head of EU foreign policy, Kaja Kallas.
Peace in Ukraine and Europe’s Security are inseparable.
Peace Cannot Be a Simple Ceasefire. Russia Must No Longer Be a Threat to #Ukraineto Europe, to International Security.
There you will be no credible and subsequent negotiations, no lasting peace, Without Ukraine and without …
– António Costa (@eucopresident) Febration 13, 2025
Epochal turning
But the problem is that Trump clearly does not think so and seems willing to go straight on his way. In a meeting with the allies of NATO this week, the neo-secretary of the defense of Washington, Pete Hegseth, said, during his first international journey, that the United States are no longer “mainly concentrated” on European security and that there Europe will have to take the guide in the defense of Ukraine.
The head of the pentagon wanted to “express directly and without ambiguity that the raw strategic realities prevent the United States of America from focusing mainly on Europe’s safety”, a strong affirmation which, if followed by the facts, would mark the most radical change In US foreign policy since 1945.
And on this point the European leaders seem to pretend that they have not even heard what Hegseth has just said. “One day the United States will leave the Old Continent. General De Gaulle’s prophecy is realizing,” he warned the high outgoing representative Josep Borrell in an interview with the European morning, claiming that Europe must prepare and equip himself to defend themselves alone and be a mistress of one’s own destiny.
A position that, to tell the truth, Macron has been supporting for years, even when Joe Biden was still at the White House, which however has never questioned the centrality of the alliance between the two banks of the Atlantic.
Vance meets Zelensky
Meanwhile, in a monk wounded by an attack destined to overheat an already Tesissimo election campaign, the Munich conference on the security of Munich opens, a traditional appointment which however will be clearly dominated by the interviews on the future of Ukraine.
To respond to Europe’s concerns should be the moderate face of the Trump administration, the Vice -President of the United States, JD Vance, who should meet Zelensky in the afternoon. Speaking with the Wall Street Journal, Trump’s right arm warned that the possibility of imposing penalties for Russia or sending troops to Ukraine remains “to the agenda”, if Putin will not accept negotiations or if he does not neglect in good faith in good faith . “There are economic pressure levers and, of course, military pressure levers,” said Vance.
