Europeans cohesive around Zelenskyy, but will fight for the formulation of Ukraine’s defense plan

European leaders rallied around Volodymyr Zelensky after his impressive oval office with Donald Trump, but the gap between Kiev and Washington leaves Europe a painful choice of how to support Ukraine.

Confrontation FridayWhen the US president accused the Ukrainian leader of “gambling” in the Third World War, caused embarrassment in European capitals and strengthened the fear of irreparable transatlantic violation.

Kajo Kalas, EU Main Diplomat and Available Fans Ukrainewas perhaps the most pointed in her assessment.

“Today it became clear that a free world needs a free world. We, Europeans, decide this challenge,” she said.

Jonas Gar Stress, the Prime Minister of Norway, called unusual scenes in the White House “serious and cruel.”

“The fact that Trump accuses Zelensky of gambling with the Third World War is deeply unreasonable, and the statement I give myself,” he said.

The evaluation of others European The leaders closed the title behind Zelenskyy, not criticizing the US president directly.

“Your dignity honors the courage of the Ukrainian people. Be strong, be bold, be fearless. You are never one, dear President Zelensky,” said Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, and Antonio Kosta, president of the European Council in a joint statement.

British Prime Minister Kire Starmer promised “unwavering support”.

French President Emmanuel Macron, who met Trump at the White House on Monday, was the first European leader to defend Zelensky on Friday night, saying: “I think we all know the situation: there is an aggressor that is Russia, and there are attacked people who are Ukraine.”

Friedrich Merz, German Chancellor, said that Berlin “stand (s) with Ukraine in good and testing. We should never confuse the aggressor and victims in this horrible war.”

On Saturday, CDU foreign policy press secretary Jurgen Hardt told the public television company Deutschlandfunk: “Champagne’s corks probably jumped out last night (in Moscow).”

The expressions of Ukraine’s support – and the reproaches of Trump, directly or indirect – emphasize how transatlantic relations were destroyed by the hasty attempts of the US president to stop the war and repair of ties with Moscow.

Trump’s antagonistic position to Ukraine, its threat to the removal of the defense of European allies by NATO, which no longer spend more on defense, and its promise to impose 25 percent tariffs for EU imports, made the Stark that Europe should formulate a plan to reduce dependence on the US. However, there is no clear plan on how to achieve this in the short term.

The gap between Zelensky and Trump also presses on the meeting of senior European leaders in London on Sunday at a hastly organized summit held by Starmer.

The summit is aimed at forming proposals on collective protection of Ukraine and increasing protection costs, reducing the continent’s dependence on America.

“We finally need to wake up and realize,” That’s all, “the EU’s senior diplomat said in response to the White House fall.

Trump’s verbal attack on Zelensky, which took place a few days after a dozen European leaders went to Ukraine to mark the third anniversary of the full -scale invasion of Russia, undermined any protracted hopes that they would be able to convince the US president to reconsider their approach to fast peace.

During the visits to the White House this week, Macron and Starmer made an agreed attempt to convince Trump to provide a military reserve for possible European stabilization forces in Ukraine, which, according to them, was necessary. These efforts were thwarted on Friday at the White House.

On Friday night, Downing -Rate, # 10 said that Starmer talked to Zelenskyy and Trump and “played its role to find a way forward.”

Georgia Meloni, the Prime Minister of Italian Nationalists, called on the “immediate summit” between the EU and the US to honestly talk about how we intend to face big problems starting from Ukraine. ”

There was one noticeable exception from the European Support Choir: Victor Orban’s pro-Russian Prime Minister Victor Orban to Trump.

“Strong men make peace, weak people wage war,” Orban said. “Today, President Trump was bravely standing for peace. Even if it was difficult for many. Thank you, Mr. The president.”

Writing on social networks Dmitry Medvedev, Deputy Putin at the Security Council and the former president, called the incident “hard dressing in the oval office.”

“Trump said Klunkyy’s face: Kiev’s regime plays with the Third World War… It helps. But this is not enough – we need to stop military support,” he writes.