"We are not losing the war, but we are losing many people's lives and we are losing time." Those words from Volodymyr Zelensky this week sum up the situation well; The United States' contacts with Ukraine and Russia appear fruitful, with Donald Trump claiming that the end of the conflict "is closer than ever" and with Zelensky accepting a freeze on the front.
But in Europe no one trusts Washington anymore and they assume that they will have to be the ones to support kyiv's interests at a potential negotiating table. And there is a summary that is very disturbing in Brussels: the US is distancing itself from Zelensky while the president publicly regrets Russia's failures in the first hours of the invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
"The Russians had a thousand tanks advancing on a concrete highway. They would have been in Ukraine in four hours, going at maximum tank speed. The war would have been over in a day and this very stupid general, I have no idea who he is, decided to turn right into the farm field and then take a left turn and go up toward kyiv, instead of staying on the highway, where they were doing very well," Trump said from the White House to reporters, in a lament that did not go unnoticed even in the Ukrainian government. Nobody gave it much importance.
But the tone in the EU is beginning to change, as diplomatic sources from different member countries confirm to 20minutes. What was previously thought in private is now being said in public.
"American negotiators have been trying to push Ukraine to surrender for almost two years, a year and a half now. Ukraine has not surrendered on Putin's terms because Europe has been supporting Ukraine," commented the High Representative, Kaja Kallas, from the European Parliament, in a thesis that, with other more measured words, is shared by leaders such as the German Chancellor, Friedrich Merz, or the prime ministers of the Nordic countries.
For this reason, and for nothing else, for example the president of Finland, Alexander Stubb, made an effort to be present in Oslo along with representatives of Germany, France and the European Commission, to support Zelensky in his meeting with Trump's envoy, Steve Witkoff. The sources understand that the EU does not have as much strength as it would like in diplomatic terms, but it needs to increase its presence, they say, so that the United States does not tilt the playing field in favor of Putin, something that, they warn, it has already begun to do with the oil agreement reached by Trump and Putin.
"The sanctions will not be lifted until Putin stops the war," warned the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen. Both Brussels and the 27, in fact, are already working on a new package of measures against Russia, which would be the twenty-second since the beginning of the invasion: in the EU they all share the same thesis, and that is that it is not the time to stop the pressure on the Kremlin, especially when Trump, they acknowledge, is putting all the weight on Zelensky, whom he has also said is not a good interlocutor for negotiations.
At the moment, according to Reuters, the US peace proposals delivered to Vladimir Putin include a scenario in which Ukraine would cede all of Donbas to Russia in exchange for security guarantees from NATO, according to a source linked to the Kremlin, something that kyiv does not confirm but which, if it occurs, would be the great first victory of Putin's desires. Zelenksi has repeatedly refused to withdraw Ukrainian troops from the remaining areas of Donbas that are under Ukrainian control. Those territories include strategically important defensive positions that kyiv considers essential for its future security.
The further the US moves away from the Ukrainian cause, the closer Europe has to be to it, conclude the diplomatic sources consulted. Because? Because they say they are clear about Trump's strategy: he is in a hurry for an agreement, even without Ukraine, that he can "sell" before the midterm elections to be held next month. Furthermore, they remember that the White House tenant's criticism against Zelensky is not new and that Europe is clear about its position. Of course, they understand that if US support is reduced, the EU will have to increase its contribution, which will not be easy.
"If Russia presents its maximum demands and requests, we should also put our maximum demands on the table, to balance these negotiations," Kallas stressed from Strasbourg, before adding that the sanctions against Moscow "work" well and fulfill their objective. "Why would Russia want them to stand up if they don't work?" he asked the MEPs. The High Representative once again made it clear that it cannot be Putin who sets conditions and reiterated the thesis that is repeated among Ukraine's allies: "It is Russia that does not want peace."
On that point, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen was one of the toughest figures on the issue these days. "I think that we, the Western alliance, are now in a worse situation than a few days ago. From the first moment of the war, we have done everything possible to end our dependence on Russian fossil fuels. Because here, in Europe, we know very well that, when we buy something from the Russians, we are financing the murder of Europeans," he said, implicitly referring to Trump's possible betrayal of both Ukraine and the rest of the allies.
Betrayal. That is the word that no one says, but that is on everyone's mind in Brussels. And the sources, in this sense, have the shared vision that Trump's interest is not so much a lasting peace, but a peace that can be transformed into resources for the United States, and they give the example of Gaza or Greenland. Meanwhile, the EU crunches numbers: Ukraine's military strength is important, but so is its economic capacity, and there Europe is the true support; That is why between now and 2027, community leaders have proposed exploring new avenues of financing for kyiv, beyond the already approved loan of 90,000 million for this year and next - which is already beginning to flow into Ukrainian coffers.
