On the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, European nations find themselves in a transatlantic rift with their ally the United States.
Under President Donald Trump, the US and Russia have started peace talks and excluded Ukraine and Europe from the process.
Many European leaders, frustrated with Trump’s conduct regarding Ukraine, are now working to come up with a way to provide security guarantees for the war-torn country.
Here is what European leaders are doing to back Kyiv:
How did we get here?
This month, Trump spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin and agreed to hold peace talks with Russia. This sparked concern among European leaders and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that they were being excluded from the talks.
“No decisions about Ukraine without Ukraine. … Europe must have a seat at the table when decisions about Europe are being made,” Zelenskyy said on February 15 at the Munich Security Conference.
On February 17, French President Emmanuel Macron hosted European leaders for an emergency summit at Elysee Palace in Paris to discuss security guarantees for Ukraine. A day later, top diplomats from the US and Russia met in Saudi Arabia without Ukraine or Europe at the table. The two countries said they discussed mending their relationship.
Since then, Trump and Zelenskyy have become embroiled in a war of words. Trump has called the Ukrainian leader a “dictator” and accused Ukraine of starting the war with Russia. Zelenskyy has hit back by saying that the US president lives in a Russian-made “disinformation space”.
What are European leaders doing about it?
Leaders of the 27 European Union countries will convene for an emergency summit on March 6. European Council President Antonio Costa announced on Sunday that this meeting will take place in Brussels. The summit will be about Ukrainian and European security.
“We are living a defining moment for Ukraine and European security,” he wrote on social media.
EU leaders last met on February 3 to discuss how to avoid a tariff war with the US.
The EU is developing a military aid package for Ukraine worth at least 20 billion euros (about $21bn), three EU diplomats told Politico.
The US news site reported the aid package could consist of cash and military hardware, such as missiles and artillery shells. EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas is behind the push to replenish military aid to Kyiv.
The Trump administration is stepping back from providing security guarantees to Ukraine and wants Europe to take the driver’s seat, noting that the US has other priorities, such as border security.
European countries have to deal with Russia’s territorial ambitions, which “will only be greater with US support”, Keir Giles, a senior consulting fellow at the London-based Chatham House think tank, told Al Jazeera.
Giles added that US leaders are clearly “intending to exert hostile leverage” for Russia’s peace terms to be accepted.
“European countries are hamstrung by their inability to exert military power, the only currency that holds any sway in deterring Russia and the US,” Giles said.
What is the message European leaders are sending to Trump?
Macron and United Kingdom Prime Minister Keir Starmer are to separately visit Washington this week to try to talk Trump out of abandoning Ukraine.
Starmer and Macron spoke by phone on Sunday and concluded that Europe must “show united leadership in support of Ukraine in the face of Russian aggression”, according to Starmer’s office.
Russia’s deputy foreign minister said on Saturday that preparations for a Trump-Putin summit are also under way.
Macron will meet Trump at the White House on Monday while Starmer will visit the US president on Thursday.
“I will tell him [Trump], ‘Deep down, you cannot be weak in the face of President [Putin]. It’s not you. It’s not what you’re made of, and it’s not in your interests,’” Macron said during a social media question and answer session on Monday before his visit.
Starmer told the Scottish Labour Party conference in Glasgow on Sunday: “After everything that they have suffered, after everything that they have fought for, there could be no discussion about Ukraine without Ukraine, and the people of Ukraine must have a long-term secure future.”
However, Trump said on the Brian Kilmeade Show on Fox News Radio on Friday that Starmer and Macron “haven’t done anything” to end the Ukraine war.
“There is a clear parallel between the procession of leaders heading to Trump’s court in Washington to try to cajole him and the period at the end of 2021, beginning of 2022 when the same process was happening to try to convince Putin to not invade Ukraine,” Giles said.
In November 2021, then-CIA Director William Burns made a visit to Moscow to discuss US-Russia relations, and in February the next year, Macron and UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace flew to Russia to try to persuade Putin to dial down tensions with Ukraine.
How widespread is support for Ukraine?
As Ukraine marks the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion, many leaders are in Kyiv to show their support.
Leaders, including European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, were greeted by Andrii Sybiha, Ukraine’s foreign minister, and Andriy Yermak, Zelenskyy’s chief of staff.
Costa, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, Latvian President Edgars Rinkevics, Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda and Estonian Prime Minister Kristen Michal also arrived in Kyiv on Monday.
According to local reports, Finnish President Alexander Stubb, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store and Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson are also in the Ukrainian capital.
“Let’s be clear: a free and sovereign Ukraine is not only in the European interest,” von der Leyen wrote in a post on X. “It’s also in the interest of the entire world.”
