European leaders are freaking out at the speed at which Presidents Trump and Putin are headed toward a summit to talk Ukraine peace, following their 90-minute Wednesday phone call, the first known contact between the two since Trump took office.
Zelensky too is loudly demanding that nothing be agreed to without Ukraine's direct representation and input. He has also asserted that in any negotiations to end the war, Kiev's European allies must be at the table. Reuters has characterized a "scramble" to get a seat. Defense Secretary Hegseth's Ukraine bombshell of ruling out future NATO membership in statements yesterday have also left the Europeans reeling.
There's also Trump's blunt Monday words to Fox wherein he said of Ukraine, "They may be Russian someday, or they may not be Russian someday." The hits keep coming and without doubt European officials are on anxiously on edge over what Trump might say next.
"European leaders warned the United States on Thursday against sealing a Ukraine peace deal with Russia behind their backs as they scrambled for a seat at the table after Donald Trump spoke to Vladimir Putin and announced the start of negotiations," the fresh Reuters report indicates.
One would think that simply ending the killing would be prime and paramount, instead of shouting accusations of Trump supposedly going behind the Europeans' backs. Instead, we get statements like this: "It is clear that any deal behind our backs will not work. Any agreement will need also Ukraine and Europe being part of it," European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said.
"Why are we giving them (Russia) everything that they want even before the negotiations have been started?" Kallas posed amid a meeting NATO defense ministers with Ukrainian offials in Brussels. "It's appeasement. It has never worked."
"Any quick fix is a dirty deal," said Kallas. And France too is warning against "peace through weakness". Lithuania's military too has said Europe must not "under the illusion that Mr. Trump and Mr. Putin are going to find the solution for all of us," according to Defense Minister Dovile Sakaliene.
A fresh FT report also sounds the alarm, with the Europeans worried over what Trump will extract from them:
More than half a dozen senior European officials told the Financial Times they expected the US president to tell them they must pay for Ukrainian reconstruction and deploy troops there to maintain a peace deal in which they would not be involved.
“The Americans don’t see a role for Europe in the big geopolitical questions related to the war. It’s going to be a real test of unity,” said one senior EU official. "Trump sees us as money. And frankly we haven’t been clear on what our seat at the table would look like in exchange for that money."
A Wednesday night statement produced by Germany, France, the UK and other European allies said, "We want to discuss the way forward with our American allies . . . Ukraine and Europe must be involved in any negotiations."
They are also angry that Washington already gave Moscow a major concession before peace talks even begin: taking NATO membership off the table. However, it's long been clear to all that this is a non-starter for Putin, and chief cause of the war, so White House strategy appears that it had to 'go big' just to ensure that talks could get started fast.
'American troops will die' - Zelensky fearmongers, suggesting Russia will invade Europe next...
'American troops will die' — Zelensky fearmongers Trump of an imaginary Russian attack on Europe https://t.co/YFlVKEbkN0 pic.twitter.com/NrCxGH99QY
— RT (@RT_com)
"It is unfortunate... that Trump has already made public concessions to Putin before negotiations have even begun," Germany’s defense minister Boris Pistorius said Thursday.
"It would have been better to talk about Ukraine’s possible Nato membership first at the negotiating table," he said from Brussels. "Putin is constantly provoking the west and attacking us again. It would be naive to believe the threat would actually diminish after such a peace agreement."
Meanwhile the Munich Security Conference kicks off Friday, which will include the attendance of US vice-president JD Vance and the president’s Ukraine envoy, Keith Kellogg. The Ukrainians and European allies are hoping to get more immediate clarity from Vance on the way forward.