Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky (L) shakes hands with French President Emmanuel Macron (2nd R) as UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer (2nd L) and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz (R) look on following their meeting at Number 10 Downing Street in London on December 8, 2025.
Chris J. Ratcliffe / AFP
Merz has given weight to the impression that Zelensky only visits Europe to relay what decisions have been made by Trump.
Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky met with his most vocal European supporters on Monday, who effectively told him that Kyiv can do better than the U.S. is offering in talks led by Donald Trump to end the war.
Yet there was still the impression—even as France’s Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and the UK’s Keir Starmer stressed just how much they support Ukraine—that the most important steps towards stopping the fighting will be made by Washington.
Merz was perhaps the most outspoken at the meeting in London, saying that he was “sceptical of some of the details” of the U.S. peace proposal for Ukraine. Europe has been especially critical of reports that suggest Trump could push Kyiv to cede some territory as part of a peace plan. And Zelensky himself said after Monday’s meeting that “we don’t want to cede anything.”
But in the same meeting, the German chancellor gave weight to the impression that Zelensky’s visits to Europe are dominated by the Ukrainian president relaying what decisions have been made by Trump, saying he was “looking forward to hearing from you [Zelensky] what the outcome of these talks [involving the U.S. and Russia] might be.” In other words, Europe is almost totally out of the loop.
Leaders of Ukraine, United Kingdom, France and Germany are meeting in London today.
Even Zelensky’s revised peace plan, which avoids Ukraine ceding territory, will be presented to Washington—perhaps after undergoing a dress rehearsal with Europe—according to reports on Tuesday.
Trump himself went further on Monday, sharing a New York Post article on his Truth social media account with this absolutely brutal headline: “Impotent Europeans can only fume as Trump rightly sidelines them from Ukraine deal.”
The piece, written by columnist Dominic Green, claims that the Brussels establishment “would rather risk war on Putin’s terms than peace on Trump’s.”
The Euros are pacifists who want to prolong a war, warriors who have no swords, strategists who haven’t a clue—and allies who conspire and sneer at their American patron and protector when it seeks to end a war that their vanity helped to start.
Like children, the Euros expect to evade the consequences of their immaturity while stamping their feet because the adults aren’t being fair—and putting out their hands for extra allowance.
European leaders are likely to shake their heads, and perhaps even hit back at these comments shared by Trump. But beneath this facade, they know he is the one more capable of determining when the war in Ukraine will end.
Michael Curzon is a news writer for europeanconservative.com based in England’s Midlands. He is also Editor of Bournbrook Magazine, which he founded in 2019, and previously wrote for London’s Express Online. His Twitter handle is @MichaelCurzon_.
