European leaders ran on Sunday to save the broken relations of Ukraine with the United States, with Great Britain and France who assembled a “coalition of the will” to develop a plan to end Ukrainian war with Russia. They hope that this effort will win the support of a skeptical Trump president.
By collecting in London at the invitation of Prime Minister Keir Starmer in Great Britain, the leaders promised to support the support for the president Volodymyr Zelensky from Ukraine after his bitter clash with Mr. Trump last week. But many have also expressed the hope that the two could repair their violation, underlining the reluctance of Europe to drive away a transatlantic alliance that has maintained peace for 80 years.
“We are at a crossroads in history,” said Starmer after meeting. “Europe has to make the heavy lifting,” he said, but he added, “to support peace and to be successful, this effort must have strong support in the United States”.
Starmer said he believed that, despite Mr. Trump’s anger towards Mr. Zelensky in the oval office on Friday, Trump was engaged in a lasting peace agreement between Ukraine and Russia. He said that Great Britain and France, working with other European countries, would develop their plan with Zelensky.
The details of the plan were sketched, but Starmer suggested that the Europeans could use it as a base to convince Mr. Trump to commit themselves to American security guarantees. Great Britain and France have already committed themselves to contributing with troops to a peace maintenance force and are trying to enlist other countries throughout Europe.
“I would not take this step forward on this path if I didn’t think that he would have produced a positive result in terms of ensuring that we move together,” said Starmer, referring to Mr. Trump.
His comments captured the dilemma facing Europe two weeks after Mr. Trump’s surprise to President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia. Neither Europe nor Ukraine currently have placed at the table in a potential peace agreement, Trump broth. Nor did Mr. Trump agree to provide any guarantee of security to prevent Russia from launching another invasion of his neighbor.
The acrimonious exchange of Mr. Trump with Mr. Zelensky deepened the division. “Nobody wanted to see what happened last Friday,” said Starmer, who had a much more fluid meeting with Mr. Trump a day before.
The prime minister tried to mediate between Mr. Zelensky and Mr. Trump. Speaking with both men by phone after their clash, Mr. Zelensky’s return to the White House on Friday evening flooded to repair the fences with the president, according to a high British official.
Both leaders diminished, saying that it would be better to make the admitrs cool and the air, according to the official, who spoke on condition of anonymous due to the delicacy of the problem.
However, Mr. Zelensky also expressed the belief that his fracture with Mr. Trump is not irreparable. “I think our relationship will continue,” he told journalists after the gathering in London. However, he questioned what happened to the White House.
“I don’t think it’s right when such discussions are totally open,” said Zelensky adding that “the format of what happened, I don’t think he brought something positive or additional to us as a partner”.
Sunday in London, Europe enveloped Mr. Zelensky in a warm embrace. He won gestures of support of the 18 assembled leaders, including President Emmanuel Macron in France, Chancellor Olaf Scholz of Germany, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in Italy and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau from Canada.
Subsequently, Mr. Zelensky flew to meet King Charles III in his country estate, Sandringham, north -est of London. That visit, at the request of Mr. Zelensky, had a symbolic resonance, since Mr. Starmer had handed over a rare invitation to Mr. Trump from the king to make a second state visit to Great Britain.
Yet behind the choreographed show of solidarity, the recognition that maintaining the United States remains critical has occurred.
“Starmer has two goals,” said Mujtaba Rahman, analyst at the Eurasia political risk consultancy group. “Build an offer with Ukrainians and Europeans who maintain the United States positively engaged in Ukraine’s safety, while at the same time they prepare for a worst scenario in which this may not prove to be possible.”
This will require European countries to support a much heavier burden in the defense of the continent. Starmer pushed leaders to follow Great Britain in strengthening his military expenses. Mark Rutte, NATO secretary general, said that several countries have committed to doing it, although he refused to appoint them.
On Saturday, after meeting Mr. Zelensky, Starmer gave Ukraine a loan of 2.26 billion pounds (about $ 2.8 billion) to buy military hardware. On Sunday, he announced his intention to allow Ukraine to use 1.6 billion pounds ($ 2 billion) in financing British exports to buy over 5,000 advanced air defense missiles.
The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said that the European Union will force Ukraine with economic and military aid, with the aim of transforming it into “a steel in steel that is indigestible for potential invaders”.
The Ukrainian war pushed Starmer in an unhappy place for a British prime minister: the heart of Europe, during a crisis. More than eight years after the country has voted to leave the European Union, the rapidly evolving security panorama is approaching Great Britain to the continent.
Catherine Ashton, a British who was the high representative of the block for foreign affairs and security policy, said that Starmer’s successful meeting with Trump strengthened his credentials as a leader for Europe.
“It is not surprising that the allies in Europe are gathering in London this weekend and equally surprising that the United Kingdom is taken much more seriously in Brussels and capital,” said Mrs. Ashton.
Yet there are limits to Mr. Starmer’s diplomacy. He was unable to extract security guarantees by Mr. Trump, despite an exaggerated show of deference for the president who included the king’s invitation.
In Washington, an official of the Trump administration said that Trump met on Monday with his best national security helpers, including the Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, to be considered and possibly acting on a series of political options for Ukraine.
These include the suspension or cancellation of American military aid in Ukraine, including the final shipments of authorized ammunition and equipment and paid during the Biden administration, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the internal deliberations.
For Mr. Starmer, the crisis is an opportunity to approach Europe. He has long wanted to do it on the commercial front, but approached caution due to political sensitivity at home. The Labor Party does not want to lose its voters of the basic working class, many of which have favored Brexit, to the anti-immigration party, reform UK, which is led by Nigel Farage.
But increasing military spending is popular among reform voters. According to Ukraine and against Russian aggression, Mr. Farage also puts, with his story of sympathy for Mr. Putin, in a difficult position.
If this will allow Mr. Starmer to reintegrate the British economy and trade with that of the European Union is another question. Some analysts have noticed that the EU is in a hurry to review its existing commercial agreement with Great Britain, which she considers beneficial for the continent. Mr. Starmer’s political fortunes still depend on the turn of his government around the sick economy of Great Britain.
“The country is in such a terrible state that I don’t think Starmer will be rewarded to be an international statesman,” said Rahman, analyst. “It is probably dangerous for a prime minister to try to build political capital abroad when the domestic agenda does not move in the direction he wishes.”
The use of Starmer of the phrase “Coalition of the Willing” had a disturbing echo of President George W. Bush in view of the war in Iraq. Great Britain, under a Labor Prime Minister Tony Blair, joined the United States, but France and Germany did not.
The shock of Trump’s statements on Russia and Ukraine could reduce these divisions this time, they said diplomats.
“People realize that they can no longer count on a beautiful Russia and generous America and who have to put their act together on a series of issues, including defense and security,” said João Vale De Almeida, former EU ambassador to the United States and Great Britain. The British, he said, are “more European than American in terms of what unites them to Europe and what unites them in America”.
However, Mr. Starmer, who said he discussed his plans with Mr. Trump on Saturday evening, rejected the suggestions that the transatlantic alliance had ended. “I don’t accept that the United States are an unreliable ally,” he said.
Eric Schmitt Relationships contributed by Washington.