Hope is not a strategy
European leaders have no plan B if Trump decides to give away Ukrainian territory to Putin at the Alaska summit on Friday. Europe's surrender summer continues.
This afternoon, the leaders of Germany, Britain, France, Italy, Poland, Ukraine and the European Union dialled in to a conference call with the president of the United States to plead with him not to sell them out to Russia at his summit with President Putin in Alaska on Friday. It was a desperate reflection of Europe’s helplessness at the moment. And at the end of the call, still nobody has any idea what Trump is going to do in two days.
The strategy from Europe’s leaders for the moment is to just hope and pray that Donald Trump does not hand over Ukraine to Putin in a recognition of a Russian sphere of influence. Beyond that, there doesn’t seem to be any plan for what Europe will do if their prayers are not answered. Despite having months to prepare since US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth first informed NATO members of Trump’s intention to settle the Ukraine war bilaterally with President Putin, the European leaders still have no plan for what to do if that bilateral deal presents a grave security threat to Europe.
Standing alongside Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy following the call, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz insisted just now that Trump “largely shares” the European view on how to end the conflict. It was a bizarre claim given that Trump indicated earlier this week that the peace deal he wants to reach will involve Ukraine ceding vast swathes of territory to Russia. “Fundamental European and Ukrainian security interests must be safeguarded in Alaska. That was the message we, as Europeans, conveyed to US President Trump today,” said Merz. But they are mere spectators in this show. The European leaders in this afternoon’s call are now briefing about the content of the call with the so-called “coalition of the willing” of 30 countries supporting Ukraine - spectators briefing the even-further-removed spectators.