EDITORIAL: The way Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s meeting with President Donald Trump ended abruptly following a very public heated exchange of words was unprecedented since government leaders generally are circumspect in front of cameras.
Trump, though, was not so wrong when he told Zelensky he was “gambling with World War III”, and that his country did not “have the cards” (to win the war).
He had come to Washington looking for security guarantees despite the fact that Trump had made it clear during his campaign that he would stop the war.
A few days ago, he had also said Ukraine started the war. Kyiv had insisted on getting NATO membership — a red flag for Russia since US-led NATO forces would have established military bases right next to its borders.
To deter its neighbour from joining NATO in February 2023, Russia launched “Special Military Operation” into eastern Ukraine. Zelensky has since been engaged in a war with money and weapons supplied mostly by the US and some European nations, and the Ukrainians doing the fighting and dying. The country has lost around 20 percent of its territory to Russia.
President Trump has set in motion negotiations process with Moscow to the exclusion of Ukraine as well as European allies. If that was not bad enough, he has said Russia can keep Ukrainian territory it now controls.
And true to his transactional leadership style, he wants to strike a deal with Ukraine, giving the US access to its earth minerals as repayment for past military support. As for security guarantees Kyiv is being told presence of American businesses would guarantee that.
All this should serve as an instructive lesson for nations that don’t think much about financial or security dependence on other countries. US’ European allies have come to a rude awakening since they signed the NATO agreement in 1949, with the US deploying hundreds of thousands of its troops to Europe to counter Soviet influence and also leading the Europeans’ security and foreign policies, expanding in the process its own superpower status.
Trump may still be committed to Article 5 of NATO, whereby attack on one ally is to be deemed an attack on all of its members, but he is in no mood to change his stance on Ukraine.
Soon after his acrimonious meeting with Zelensky, he took to his ‘Truth Social’ platform to say “Zelenskyy was not ready for peace if America is involved.” Nor are the Europeans on the terms of peace on offer, apprehensive that Trump is about to sell Kyiv short in negotiations with Russia, but unable to pick up the slack.
Rallying around Ukraine European allies met in London on Sunday where the host, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, said it was “a once-in-a-generation moment for the security of Europe and we all need to step up.”
Also, he revealed that some European nations are planning to form a “coalition of the willing”. The issue though is not just if they have the will, but also if they have the means, especially troop numbers.
Reports suggest that at this point in time they can afford a force of up to 30,000 troops to maintain peace while Zelensky puts that number at 100-200,000. They therefore are talking about drawing up a Ukraine peace plan to take to Washington, ready to play second fiddle to the US after all the hue and cry.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
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