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“This new political landscape is a serious challenge for everyone — especially in the context of a possible end to the Russian-Ukrainian war as a result of an agreement between the president of Russia and the new president of the United States,” Tusk said.
He will meet Starmer in Warsaw or London as early as this week and host Macron and Rutte in Poland in an attempt to secure western support for Ukraine via a European alliance that will include the Nordic and Baltic states.
Tusk, who dealt with Trump as president of the European Council between 2016 and 2019, once told a meeting of EU leaders that the American was “stupid” and “on a mission against what we stand for” in Europe.
His attempt to build an inner alliance on Ukraine is revealing of Europe’s fears that a peace deal with Putin could, through transfers of territory and enforced neutrality for Kyiv, hand a victory to Russia.
“We will very intensively co-ordinate co-operation with countries that have a very similar view on the geopolitical and transatlantic situation and situation in Ukraine,” he said. “Nobody wants the conflict to escalate. At the same time, nobody wants Ukraine to weaken or even capitulate; this would be a fundamental threat to Poland and Polish interests.”
During talks with Zelensky in Budapest on Thursday, Starmer pledged Britain’s “unwavering” support “to step up” in defence of Ukraine. After meetings in Hungary, which leads Europe’s pro-Russia camp, the Ukrainian leader attacked unnamed European countries for “strongly” pushing Ukraine to compromise.
European diplomats regard Britain — alongside Poland and France — as critical to holding the line in Europe because of German hesitation on, for example, allowing the Ukrainians to use missiles supplied by the West to hit targets on Russian territory.
Josep Borrell, the EU’s foreign affairs chief, landed in Kyiv this weekend in the first significant expression of European support for Ukraine since Trump’s victory. “We will back Ukraine as much as we can,” he said.
