The treatment of the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, by the US president, Donald Trump, during what appears to have been a staged confrontation in the White House in front of the world’s press, marks one of the most profoundly shocking moments in US diplomacy in decades.
In this crass and deeply disturbing performance, the wartime leader of a democratic European country that is fighting against an illegal invasion by Russia, which has seen its citizens killed and cities bombed indiscriminately, was subjected to a vicious, ignorant and mendacious attack that was designed to humiliate.
Many watching the antics of Trump and his vice-president, JD Vance – and the subsequent cheerleading from their far-right political allies – will have been sickened by what they saw: an American president channelling the words of Vladimir Putin and the Kremlin. In the cold light of the day that has followed, the world – and Europe in particular – has woken to the most uncomfortable of realities.
The US, the country that has styled itself the indispensable nation, has aligned itself with the enemies of peace and democracy. If “America first” marks simply a shattering moment of US isolationism not seen since the run-up to America’s entry into the Second World War, this would be devastating enough. But, as they gather in London tomorrow, European leaders, Keir Starmer among them, must recognise that the contours of European and global security have been transformed.
The first lesson should be acknowledgment of what has been obvious since Trump’s inauguration: the US cannot be relied on as a security, intelligence or trading partner. Washington’s underpinning of Nato, and international security, is no longer a given. By giving succour to a Russia already conducting hostile acts against European countries beyond Ukraine, including Britain, Trump has made common cause with the greatest threat facing Europe today.
That was reflected in the comment by Kaja Kallas, the EU’s foreign policy chief, after Friday’s degrading White House spectacle, that the “free world needs a new leader”. In practical terms, that must mean an end to the pretence that Trump can be flattered and played.
The almost unanimous outpouring of support from European leaders for Zelenskyy and Ukraine after the White House meeting needs to be rapidly followed by a show of unity at the London summit – and by concrete measures to support Ukraine and to preserve the wider peace on the European continent.
All of which means hard decisions will need to be made, and quickly, in European capitals, not only on defence spending but in recognising and in communicating to the public that a wider conflict with Russia – and without US support – is not unthinkable but must be actively prepared for.
For, while it is easy to see Trump’s actions as the petulant, theatrical and narcissistic reaction of a deeply insecure individual, the consequences go far beyond that. If there is a glimmer of hope, no matter how dim, it is that Trump’s poisonous bluster is underpinned by incoherence and weakness that is open to being challenged.
It is important to take stock of the reality with which the world is confronted, not the fantasy some would wish to see. Washington’s abdication of leadership and support for Ukraine requires a rapid and united European response without caveats.
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As Kallas suggests, that requires European leaders to articulate the values to which they are committed and how they will practically back them, including material aid to Kyiv. Because the Trump administration’s often bizarre and self-harming view of foreign and trade policy, merging unilateralism, territorial expansion and isolationism, can only work in our deeply connected world if other countries allow it to.
America, as Zelenskyy rightly observed, is as vulnerable to Putin’s acts as Ukraine and Europe. Starmer’s visit to Washington last week – following that of the French president, Emmanuel Macron – was a necessary attempt to influence Trump. That effort has failed and it should be clear that there are now red lines, the most obvious of which is the threat to end US aid to Kyiv. After Friday’s events, it is already highly questionable in many minds whether Trump should be granted a state visit to the UK.
What should be clear to No 10 is that ending aid to Ukraine would be a step too far for the UK, even for this highly abnormal regime in Washington. Above all, Starmer and other European leaders must insist on the primacy of one of the key founding principles of the post Second World War order, enshrined in international law: territory may not be acquired through military aggression.
The starting point for any peace in Ukraine must be to recognise the illegality of Putin’s aggressions, which began with the annexation of Crimea in 2014. Ukraine should have a seat at the table in all discussions, free from threats and extortion from Trump and his allies. The aim of those discussions should be to see both the full withdrawal of Russian forces and powerful guarantees for Kyiv’s security. At this moment of dark reckoning, we owe it not only to the people of Ukraine; we owe it to ourselves.
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