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https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2025/03/01/european-leaders-rally-behind-ukraine-after-trump-zelensky-white-house-clash_6738699_4.html

Europe’s top diplomat sad the free world needed ‘a new leader’ after a furious exchange between Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky in the White House on Friday.

Le Monde with AFP

Published on March 1, 2025, at 10:39 am (Paris), updated on March 1, 2025, at 2:29 pm
3 min read

Ukraine’s European allies, set to gather in London on Sunday, March 2, rallied behind President Volodymyr Zelensky after Donald Trump threw him out of the White House and accused him of not being “ready” for peace with Russia.

Stunned by Friday’s altercation in the Oval Office, which saw Zelensky depart the White House without signing an expected mineral deal, European leaders rushed to his defense. “You are not alone,” said Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, fresh off his own visit to the White House, said he had spoken to both Trump and Zelensky and vowed “unwavering support” for Kyiv.

The US president openly berated Zelensky on Friday for not being “thankful,” and later accused the Ukrainian leader of “not being ready for peace” and having “disrespected” the United States in the “cherished Oval Office.”

Zelensky wrote “Thank you for your support” in individual replies on social media platform X to around 30 messages from European leaders. Starmer and Zelensky will meet in London on Saturday afternoon ahead of Sunday’s summit, the prime minister’s office said.

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On Sunday, representatives from more than a dozen European countries will convene in the British capital to focus on shoring up support for “securing a just and enduring peace” in Ukraine, according to Downing Street. The gathering will also address the need for Europe to increase defense cooperation amid fears over whether the United States will continue to support NATO.

French President Emmanuel Macron has said he is ready to “open the discussion” on a possible future European nuclear deterrent, following a request from Germany’s next leader, Friedrich Merz. Merz has stressed the need for the continent to move quickly to “achieve independence” from the United States on defense matters.

EU says ‘free world needs new leader’
European Union chiefs Ursula von der Leyen and Antonio Costa assured Zelensky that he was “never alone.” “Be strong, be brave, be fearless,” wrote the European Commission and Council presidents in a joint statement on social media, telling Zelensky: “We will continue working with you for a just and lasting peace.”

The bloc’s top diplomat Kaja Kallas questioned the United States leadership of the transatlantic alliance between European powers and Washington. “Today, it became clear that the free world needs a new leader. It’s up to us, Europeans, to take this challenge,” she wrote on social media.

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Trump’s sudden shift on Ukraine, sidelining Kyiv and Europe while pursuing rapprochement with Putin, has rattled the transatlantic alliance.

Russia the ‘aggressor,’ says Macron
Macron said that Russia was the “aggressor” in the Ukraine war, continuing: “There is an aggressor which is Russia. There is an aggressed people which is Ukraine,” Macron told journalists, adding: “We were all right to help Ukraine and sanction Russia three years ago and to continue to do so.”

He later went further to say that “if anyone is playing at World War III, it’s Vladimir Putin”, referring to Trump’s accusations against Zelensky.

Germany’s likely next chancellor Merz assured his support to Zelensky. “We must never confuse the aggressor and the victim in this terrible war,” Merz said. The outgoing Chancellor Olaf Scholz also voiced support for Ukraine, as did Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, who added that Kyiv’s “quest for peace & security is ours”.

Read more Subscribers only ‘How did it come to war? To this US pivot toward Russia?’
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni called for the United States, Europe and their allies to gather over the Ukraine war. “A summit without delay is needed… to talk frankly about how we intend to tackle today’s major challenges, starting with Ukraine, which together we have defended in recent years,” she said.

“Dutch support for Ukraine remains undiminished. Especially now,” Prime Minister Dick Schoof said on X, adding “we want lasting peace and an end to the war of aggression that Russia has started.”

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said his country would stand by war-torn Ukraine after the row. “Ukraine, Spain stands with you,” Sanchez, a staunch backer of Ukraine since Russia’s 2022 invasion who pledged one billion euros of aid in a visit to Kyiv this week, wrote on X.

Delight in Russia
Ukraine’s Prime Minister Denys Shmygal said Zelensky was “right” as “peace without guarantees is not possible.” “Ceasefire without guarantees is the way to Russian occupation of the entire European continent,” Shmygal said.

Army chief Oleksandr Syrsky, who rarely makes political statements, affirmed the armed forces stood behind Zelensky, while calling for unity.

Other Ukrainian allies also rallied behind Zelensky, with Canada saying Kyiv was not only fighting for its freedom but also “ours.” Denmark described its “pride” in supporting Ukraine while Sweden referred to Ukrainians as “friends.”

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said his country will “stand with Ukraine” for as long as needed while New Zealand’s Prime Minister Christopher Luxon praised Ukraine as “a proud, democratic and sovereign nation.”

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Swiss President Karin Keller-Sutter said her country was “firmly committed to supporting a just and lasting peace, while condemning Russia’s aggression against a sovereign state.”

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, one of the closest partners of both Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, thanked Trump for standing “bravely for peace.” “Strong men make peace, weak men make war,” Orban posted on X.

Meanwhile, Kirill Dmitriev, a Russian negotiator in the first high-level talks between Moscow and Washington officials since the start of Russia’s invasion in Ukraine branded the spat between the two leaders as “historic.”

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“For the first time, Trump told the truth to the cocaine clown’s face,” said former president Dmitry Medvedev, now deputy chairman of Russia’s security council, referring to Zelensky.