According to The New York Times, at a meeting held in London at the invitation of British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on March 2, European leaders pledged to form a "voluntary alliance" to develop a plan to end the war between Ukraine and Russia. They hope to convince US President Donald Trump to support the initiative, although he has expressed skepticism about continuing to support Ukraine.
Prime Minister Starmer stressed the importance of maintaining unity between Europe and Ukraine, and said that it is necessary to find a way for all parties to cooperate with each other.
He affirmed that the UK and France are working with other countries to develop a separate plan to support Ukraine. However, details about this plan are still vague.
One of Europe's goals is to convince the US to commit to ensuring security for Ukraine. Meanwhile, the UK and France have announced that they will contribute troops to a peacekeeping force and are working to call for more European countries to join.
According to Prime Minister Starmer, despite important strides, the security situation in Europe is still very fragile.
The summit comes after President Trump made a surprise move when approaching Russian President Vladimir Putin, while Ukraine and European countries were absent from US-led peace talks. This makes Europe even more concerned about having to shoulder the responsibility of ensuring the security of its continent.
The previous meeting between Trump and Zelensky has caused a lot of tension, further cracking the transatlantic relationship. However, Prime Minister Starmer still expressed hope that the disagreements between the two leaders could be resolved.
He has worked as a mediator and suggested that the Ukrainian president return to the White House to resolve the conflict, but both sides want to calm the situation before taking any further action.
At the London conference, President Zelensky received strong support from 18 European leaders, including French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. After meetings with them, he also plans to visit King Charles III at Sandringham Palace.
In addition to showing solidarity with Ukraine, Europe understands that keeping the US involved in regional security is important. However, if that cannot be achieved, European countries may have to increase their military capabilities.
He has announced a 2.5% increase in defense budget to GDP by 2027 and 3% in the next decade. The UK government has also provided Ukraine with a loan of £2.26 billion to buy more weapons.
The recent US moves towards Russia and Ukraine have made Europe more aware that they cannot rely on the protection of external powers forever.
Some observers believe that this could be a driving force for Europe to act more strongly in building an independent defense system. However, reaching consensus among countries is still a big challenge, as reflected in the difficulties from the organization of this conference.
