Five lessons from Europe's Ukraine debacle

Do you remember Volodymyr Zelensky's last visit to the White House? That was almost exactly six months ago. It culminated in shouting and accusations against the Ukrainian president. At the end, I wouldn't have been surprised if Trump had thrown his golf clubs at the guest. This Monday, Zelensky is expected to visit the US President for the first time since then.

And this time he's not coming alone, but with supporters: the heads of government of Italy, France, Finland, Great Britain, and Germany, along with the President of the European Commission and the Secretary General of NATO. The ensemble wants to demonstrate unity. But the more people come, the smaller this Europe becomes. And the less likely it is to save Ukraine.

I know this sounds very harsh after a weekend of outrage over the collusion between Trump and Vladimir Putin displayed in Alaska. Here in Europe, everyone was just so unanimous in their fury that the war criminal Putin was the winner of this summit and Trump the servile loser.

And one can certainly assume that the two of them talked about Ukraine like two elderly men discussing the sausage selection at their supermarket meat counter. But that's no use. Our equally brave and unfortunately incompetent EU simply has the worse cards and would be well advised to finally understand that.

Let's look at Europe through the eyes of the "Trumputin" duo! Putin thinks we're a bunch of crazy wimps anyway, the ones who started the war in the first place and stole his old brother states away from him. Again: This isn't about exposing the Kremlin aggressor and his narratives, but about thinking like him.

In his contempt for this blasé Europe, Trump isn't far behind. Add to that what his Vice President, J.D. Vance, said last week: "We're tired of funding the war in Ukraine." The US has provided well over $100 billion to Ukraine since the outbreak of war. For a country that hardly any American could accurately locate on a map of Europe. We can, of course, find that outrageous, too. It! Is! But! US domestic policy!

And it doesn't matter how many EU representatives show up in Washington today. They could also quickly nominate a few European pop stars. How about Gianna Nannini, Helene Fischer, or Paul McCartney? That wouldn't change anything. Europe has no say in the decision, but can be happy if it's still informed.

Incidentally, it's also a bitter reality that the 27 EU member states together sent another €150 billion to Kyiv, of which almost €30 billion came from Germany alone. A fifth! In view of such figures, there are even people here in Germany who would welcome an end to the bloodshed (and war financing) – no matter how. Not to mention other EU countries.

If I see it correctly, Ukraine can still say yes or no to a "deal." Trump is at least offering more than Putin, who would simply crush the country sooner or later. And at the moment, Ukraine seems capable of saving a large part of its territory with various security guarantees and US support. But they won't play along much longer.

On the way back from Alaska, Trump called Zelensky and advised him: "Make a deal!" As a Ukrainian, I wouldn't bet on us Europeans as the sole rescue option against an expansively aggressive Russia anyway.

So, regardless of how the negotiations this week end—or continue—we should draw five lessons from the Ukraine disaster: 1) We Europeans aren't really playing a role on the world stage right now, and 2) we don't have all that many friends out there either. India and China aren't really part of our fan base right now, either.

3) International law is a fine thing, but if you want to keep autocrats or even dictators in check in the future who see things differently, you should be prepared. 4) We Europeans aren't that, even after more than three years of the war in Ukraine, and therefore 5) we should finally manage to become a true union, at least in terms of defense.

Otherwise, I dare to predict, we won't even be informed about the next crisis.