Perfectly European: Germany, France, U.K, Poland and EU Commission Refuse to Send Troops on Peacekeeping Mission to Ukraine Without U.S. Troops

Sundance reporting for CTH 

The ‘leaders’ of Europe got together in Paris, France at the request of French President Emmanuel Macron to discuss how to handle a peace agreement if Putin, Trump and eventually Zelenskyy come to terms.  The outcome perfectly encapsulates the EU.

After essentially saying the United States would not send military troops into Ukraine as part of a peacekeeping mission, President Trump sent a communique to each of the leaders, “asking them to spell out what they would be prepared to offer to enforce a peace agreement, as well as what they would expect from the U.S.”  However, there was no consensus from the EU meeting.

Instead, the Germans, French, British, Polish and EU leaders from Brussels said they would not send military assistance to Ukraine, without the leadership of the United States, and specifically without U.S. military troops to lead them.  {Insert belly laughter here} Of course, they didn’t.

Politico outlines the story of the meeting: […] “A French-led effort by European leaders to present a united front on Ukraine in the face of rising fear over U.S. President Donald Trump’s intentions fizzled Monday as they failed to agree on sending troops to police a possible peace deal.

French President Emmanuel Macron had called the emergency meeting in Brussels after European leaders were left reeling by news the U.S. would start negotiations with Russia to end its war on Ukraine, but without inviting any representatives from Europe or from Ukraine.

But after a 3.5-hour huddle at the Elysée presidential palace, the response of leaders to the biggest security calculus shift in decades was underwhelming.  “We realize that such meetings do not end in decisions,” Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said after the meeting.

Leaders came up with no new joint ideas, squabbled over sending troops to Ukraine, and once again mouthed platitudes on aiding Ukraine and boosting defense spending.

“Today in Paris we reaffirmed that Ukraine deserves peace through strength,” said both European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen and European Council President António Costa.

The core dispute was over whether to send troops to Ukraine if there is an agreement to end the war. U.S. President Donald Trump has ruled out both sending U.S. forces and allowing Ukraine to join NATO, meaning that any effort to prevent Russia from attacking Ukraine again would have to be borne by Europeans.

NOT WITHOUT THE USA – France, whose President Emmanuel Macron first suggested the idea, and the U.K.’s Keir Starmer both support the idea, although Starmer said that could only happen if the United States also participated in any peacekeeping force.

He insisted on the need for a “U.S. backstop” after peace is secured in Ukraine, in order to “deter Russia from attacking Ukraine again.”

But Poland, a frontline state and close ally of Ukraine, with one of the largest militaries in Europe, demurred.

“We do not anticipate sending Polish soldiers to Ukraine,” Tusk said in Warsaw before flying to Paris.

“Poland simply doesn’t have the additional capacity to send troops to Ukraine,” said a senior Polish official who spoke on condition of anonymity, noting the country has long borders with the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad and Russia-allied Belarus, which need to be reinforced with Polish forces. “The French are far away so they can send soldiers to Ukraine; we’re close so we cannot.” (read more)

They have nothing but words, platitudes, meaningless bureaucratic sentence assemblies.

Oh, but he’s a horrible man that Trump, and JD Vance is bad, or something.

Too funny.

I doubt there is anything more completely European, than the leaders of Europe waxing philosophically with their high-minded prose about how the USA needs to provide military troops to support a peace deal that impacts the Europeans.