From Washington’s wrath to Europe’s empty embrace

Volodymyr Zelensky arrived in Washington on Friday in his trademark military-style black sweatshirt, expecting support. Instead, he was unceremoniously banished from the Oval Office after a savage dressing down from Trump. The meeting was catastrophic: a diplomatic cataclysm unfolding with breathtaking velocity in 10 minutes.
President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance had begun berating their guest, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, in an unprecedented public implosion of a key global relationship.

Zelensky was summarily dismissed and not even offered lunch by the White House. Then came the real gut punch—the U.S. is now demanding a public apology. “He disrespected the United States of America in its cherished Oval Office. He can come back when he is ready for Peace,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

A humiliated Zelensky rushed to Europe, where leaders offered him a shoulder to sob on—before telling him to sober up and fall in line. French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz made all the right noises about standing with Ukraine, but behind closed doors, the advice was brutally unvarnished: Fix things with Trump. Apologise. Capitulate to his terms. NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte urged Zelensky to “find a way” to repair ties with Washington. To demystify the diplomatic obfuscation: Prostrate yourself, bow to Trump, or Ukraine stands perilously abandoned.

Despite grandiose proclamations of support, the unpalatable truth is glaring: Europe lacks the firepower or the financial wherewithal to replace the U.S. While the UK threw in a $2 billion financing deal for air defence missiles, it’s a paltry pittance in the ocean compared to what Washington has withheld.

France and Britain are proposing a partial one-month truce between Russia and Ukraine that would not cover ground fighting. It is naive to even contemplate that Russia would pause its aerial attacks at a time when Ukraine is almost bereft of air defence missiles (most of them were supplied by the U.S). It’s a desperate gambit to freeze the war before Ukraine collapses further.

Also Read | In Trump-Zelensky fight over Ukraine, the winner is Vladimir Putin

Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Britain, Ukraine, France, along with some other European nations would form a “coalition of the willing” and draw up a peace plan to take to Trump. European leaders are pontificating about security guarantees for Kyiv—but without America, those guarantees are simply, sanctimonious rhetoric.
Time up for Zelensky

Trump’s national security adviser, Mike Waltz, says, “We need a leader that can deal with us, eventually deal with the Russians, and end this war”, which unequivocally signifies that Zelensky should resign. Waltz isn’t alone. US Speaker Mike Johnson has suggested Zelensky might need to leave office for Ukraine to achieve a peace deal with Russia. That’s not all, Peter Mandelson, the UK’s ambassador to the US, told ABC News: “I think that Ukraine should be the first to commit to a ceasefire and defy the Russians to follow.”

The excruciating truth? Ukraine’s survival hinges inexorably on Trump—and Trump wants Zelensky on his knees, thoroughly subjugated. Zelensky must now make an agonising Hobson’s choice: accept the mineral deal without any security guarantees and maintain tenuous U.S. support or resist and risk abandonment and be left to fend for itself against the mighty Russian military.

Europe can offer feckless platitudes. Trump offers a Faustian bargain. Which venomous chalice will Zelensky choose?