Much has changed, but transatlantic cooperation on restoring peace remains the best option
By Philip Bednarczyk
An informal debate among observers in the NATO Parliamentary Assembly the day before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine focused on then-former President Donald Trump’s description of his Russian counterpart as “genius” for his immense military buildup on the Ukrainian border. A colleague defended Trump’s use of the word, while I argued caveats and adjectives were needed before characterizing the Kremlin autocrat that way.
After years of fighting and hundreds of thousands of dead, two developments related to Trump’s perspective stand out. The first is that he has not used all the tools at its disposal to pressure Vladimir Putin to end his war. The previous administration and Congress left the incoming team many diplomatic options for restoring peace, but Trump decided not to use them. Ukrainians were not surprised by this, and so they are left with no choice but continuing the fight, adapting to changing battle conditions, and compromising when necessary. Trump’s policies of not pressuring Moscow and excluding Europeans from negotiations while abruptly, if temporarily, halting aid to Ukraine in summer 2025 and, shortly thereafter, hosting Putin in Alaska have left Europe scrambling to support Kyiv. But that is insufficient, and Ukrainians have consequently devised ways to increase the cost to Russia for its aggression. Europe, for its part, is rearming as the dawn of a new world order may be breaking.
The second development is that a path to transatlantic cooperation on Ukraine and to a sustainable peace exists—despite the White House’s incessant pressuring of allies, ignoring a Congressional majority in favor of supporting Ukraine, and a public berating of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Oval Office. Allies in Europe and Asia, Congress, and Kyiv, still hold out a hand of collaboration to Washington, even if they are preparing for a world in which the United States is unreliable.
Much like the war, goodwill is not eternal. Europe and the United States would benefit from working together to reestablish peace and reap the benefits of a victorious Ukraine’s joining the transatlantic community.
The views expressed herein are those solely of the author(s). GMF as an institution does not take positions.