{"id":9694,"date":"2025-03-03T14:13:38","date_gmt":"2025-03-03T09:13:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/?p=9694"},"modified":"2025-03-03T14:13:41","modified_gmt":"2025-03-03T09:13:41","slug":"ukraines-zelensky-and-european-allies-cement-cooperation-after-trump-row","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en\/security\/ukraines-zelensky-and-european-allies-cement-cooperation-after-trump-row\/","title":{"rendered":"Ukraine\u2019s Zelensky and European allies cement cooperation after Trump row"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Monday he would work with Europe to set terms for a possible peace deal to present to the United States, after allies gathered in London<\/a> pledged to spend more on security and assemble a coalition to defend any truce in Ukraine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The weekend crisis talks, which brought together 18 allies, came at a delicate moment for war-battered Ukraine, facing uncertain US support and on the back foot against Russia\u2019s three-year invasion<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Days earlier, US President Donald Trump berated Zelensky<\/a> in front of reporters at the White House, heightening fears he intends to force Kyiv into a peace deal that gives Russian President Vladimir Putin what he wants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But European leaders closed ranks in support of Kyiv, with Zelensky saying afterwards the summit cemented their commitment to work towards peace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe need peace, not endless war,\u201d he said on Telegram.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn the near future, all of us in Europe will shape our common positions \u2014 the lines we must achieve and the lines we cannot compromise on,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThese positions will be presented to our partners in the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer<\/a> likewise said that Britain, France \u201cand others\u201d would work with Ukraine on a plan to stop the fighting, which they would then put to Washington.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And French President Emmanuel Macron, flying back from the summit, told Le Figaro<\/a><\/em> newspaper that France and Britain wanted to propose a partial one-month truce \u201cin the air, at sea and on energy infrastructure\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Starmer and Macron have said they are prepared to deploy British and French troops to Ukraine to help preserve any truce.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With no guarantee of US involvement, \u201cEurope must do the heavy lifting\u201d, Starmer said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>One-month truce<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Macron told Le Figaro<\/em> that a truce would not, initially at least, cover ground fighting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The problem was that it would be very difficult to enforce given the size of the front line, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Peacekeepers would be deployed at a later date, he said, adding: \u201cThere won\u2019t be European troops on Ukrainian soil in the coming weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Macron also suggested that European countries should raise their defence spending to between 3.0 and 3.5 percent of GDP to respond to Washington\u2019s shifting priorities and Russia\u2019s militarisation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While recently reinaugurated<\/a> Trump has cast himself as a mediator between Putin and Zelensky, his approach has sidelined Kyiv and Europe while pursuing rapprochement with the Russian leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This shift was on full display at the Oval Office meeting with Zelensky, who Trump accused of not being grateful enough for US aid and not being \u201cready\u201d for peace with Russia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Starmer, who had met Trump just days earlier, insisted the United States was \u201cnot an unreliable ally\u201d. Any deal \u201cmust have strong US backing\u201d to succeed, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But after the leaders gathered on Sunday, European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen warned the continent urgently had to rearm to \u201cprepare for the worst\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk called for the United States and Europe to show Putin \u201cthat the West has no intention of capitulating before his blackmail and aggression\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Sunday, Trump dismissed concerns over his closeness with Russia, saying the United States should worry \u201cless\u201d about Putin and more about domestic crime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>\u2018Constructive\u2019 approach<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Trump\u2019s Republican party has largely fallen in line behind his pivot towards Moscow\u2019s narrative on the Ukraine war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Top officials have suggested Zelensky should step down to ensure a peace deal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe need a leader that can deal with us, eventually deal with the Russians, and end this war,\u201d Mike Waltz, Trump\u2019s national security adviser, told CNN<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

US House Speaker Mike Johnson said Zelensky either \u201cneeds to come to his senses and come back to the table in gratitude, or someone else needs to lead the country\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Zelensky has repeatedly suggested he would resign in exchange for Nato membership for Ukraine \u2014 a goal scorned by Trump<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf there is Nato and the war is over, it means I fulfilled my mission,\u201d Zelensky said on Monday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He also stressed the need to keep Washington onside, and signalled his readiness to sign a mineral deal<\/a> coveted by Trump.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI am ready to engage in any kind of constructive format in relations with the US,\u201d he said.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Monday he would work with Europe to set terms for a possible peace deal to present to the United States, after allies gathered in London pledged to spend more on security and assemble a coalition to defend any truce in Ukraine. The weekend crisis talks, which brought together 18 allies, came […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":9695,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[396,342,73],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9694","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest","category-politics","category-security"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9694"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9694"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9694\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9695"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9694"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9694"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9694"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}