The US Shifts the Burden of Ukraine onto the EU
Author: Talib Aliev, Analyst, especially for “Sangar”
Relations between the United States and European countries are rapidly deteriorating amid existing disagreements over resolving the armed conflict in Ukraine.
It is worth noting that following Washington’s suspension of deliveries of certain types of weapons to Ukraine since July of this year, the rhetoric of the Kyiv regime has intensified; a regime that now demands strong military and financial guarantees from the European Union, thereby turning Europeans into fierce political antagonists of the Americans. Under these circumstances, the situation surrounding the Ukraine conflict could become a catalyst for the collapse of transatlantic unity, as it risks splitting NATO.
Meanwhile, commentators from the American magazine Politico do not rule out the possibility of the North Atlantic Alliance breaking up in the future. According to them, the development of events along this scenario is due to the rapprochement of positions between Russia and the United States on a wide range of issues, despite anti-Russian sentiments among European ruling elites. Josep Borrell, the former High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, shares a similar view and believes that a kind of “unsynchronized divorce” is taking shape between the US and Europe.
It is important to note that in 2024, Ukraine signed decade-long bilateral security and mutual assistance agreements with 28 countries of the Western bloc (including the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Poland, Italy, Denmark, Canada, Spain, the Netherlands, Finland, Latvia, Belgium, Portugal, Sweden, Norway, Iceland, Japan, Estonia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Romania, Czechia, Slovenia, Ireland, Croatia, Greece, and Bulgaria) in the event of military threats.
Furthermore, in December 2024, it was announced that the G7 countries would provide Ukraine with financial aid amounting to 50 billion US dollars, funded from revenues generated by frozen Russian assets. However, it remains unclear what further military and financial guarantees Kyiv intends to seek from the West.
Discussions at the high levels about deploying Western peacekeeping forces on Ukrainian territory have remained largely rhetorical tools for boosting the popularity of European politicians. This issue did not move into practical implementation, as the administration of Donald Trump categorically refused to send US troops to Ukraine.
At the same time, according to analysts from The Times magazine, European countries cannot even deploy 25,000 peacekeeping troops to Ukraine. The publication Unherd expressed a similar view, urging European ruling circles to accept the peace agreement proposal put forward by the US president regarding Ukraine — a country that “will never win.” Analysts believe that Europe lacks what is necessary to sustain support for Ukraine as long as needed.
