The heated arguments between US President Donald John Trump and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Oleksandrovych Zelenskyy at the Oval Office of the White House on February 28, 2025 has shocked the global community. While the US fumes with anger over the outrageous behaviour of the Ukrainian President, Europe has started maintaining a distance with the US after President Trump misbehaved with his guest. World Politics has taken a new turn after this meeting aimed at searching for peace, with the equation between the US and Europe changing rapidly.

The entire world watched the footage of the Trump-Zelenskyy argument on February 28, 2025. Moments later, the visiting President left the White House. Thereafter, Kaja Kallas, the High Representative (for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy) and Vice President of the European Commission (EC), made significant remarks. She wrote on X: “We will step up our support to Ukraine so that they can continue to fight back the aggressor. Today, it became clear that the Free World needs a new leader. It’s up to us, Europeans, to take this challenge.” Kallas added: “Ukraine is Europe! We stand by Ukraine.“

Interestingly, Kallas did not specifically mention the word US or Trump in her post. She also made no comments on how the Free World would select its leader. However, Kallas has received support from major Western powers, including Britain, France and Germany. Political analysts are of the opinion that the division among G7 nations has been exposed after the Trump-Zelenskyy meeting. If the US leaves NATO, then Europe may face a security crisis.

The Second World War ended with the surrender of Japan in 1945. Within four years, the US formed the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), primarily with Western European countries. All the 32 NATO member-countries are committed to mutual military cooperation. With the fall of the erstwhile Soviet Union in 1991, the four-and-a-half-decades-long Cold War between the two Superpowers ended. Since then, European countries have become heavily dependent on the US for their security.

Meanwhile, Trump changed the US’ NATO policy after becoming the US President for a second term on January 20, 2025. He is reluctant to spend billions of US Dollars every year on European security. He has also hinted that the US may leave NATO, if necessary. It has become clear (especially after his meeting with President Zelenskyy) that Trump is not at all worried about Europe’s security. Hence, Britain, France, Germany and other European powers have decided to reduce their dependence on the US in the defence sector. Europe has also realised the need for a new leader who could lead the Free World.

Joachim-Friedrich Martin Josef Merz, the Chancellor-elect of Germany, recently said: “My absolute priority will be to strengthen Europe as quickly as possible so that, step by step, we can really achieve independence from the USA.” The NATO countries will attend a summit at its headquarters in the Belgian capital of Brussels in June 2025. Merz has signalled a seismic shift in (Europe’s) transatlantic relations, stressing that it was uncertain “whether we will still be talking about NATO in its current form” at the next NATO Summit in June “or whether we will have to establish a European defence capability much more quickly”.

Despite all these, it is not that all Western European countries are united against the US. French President Emmanuel Jean-Michel Frédéric Macron and British Prime Minister Sir Keir Rodney Starmer are not ready to snap defence ties with Washington DC, right now. On the other hand, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has called for an urgent meeting between Europe, Ukraine and the US, stating: “Every division of the West makes us all weaker and favours those who would like to see the decline of our civilisation. Not of its power or influence, but of the principles that founded it, first and foremost freedom. A division would not benefit anyone. What is needed is an immediate summit between the US, European states and allies to talk frankly about how we intend to deal with the great challenges of today, starting with Ukraine… This is the proposal that Italy intends to make to its partners in the coming hours.” However, there is considerable doubt as to whether the European Union (EU) or President Trump would accept the proposal of the Italian PM. For his part, Viktor Orbán, the Prime Minister of Hungary, said: “Strong men make peace, weak men make war. Today, President Donald Trump stood bravely for peace. Even if it was difficult for many to digest. Thank you, Mr President!“

Russian President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin has been conducting a special military operation in Ukraine since February 24, 2022. President Trump recently intervened in the matter as the war has been going on for more than three years. He invited President Zelenskyy to Washington DC to discuss the Ukraine crisis. However, the two leaders lost tempers during their talks on a peace agreement. Washington DC has been supporting Kiev financially, as well as militarily, since the beginning of the Russia-Ukraine War. During the meeting, the US President threatened to stop helping Ukraine. However, President Zelenskyy remained adamant. He even refused to apologise to President Trump for his behaviour.

The two leaders were seen arguing during their 40-minute meeting at the Oval Office. President Trump accused his Ukrainian counterpart of waging the war in Eastern Europe, stressing: “You’re not in a good position. You don’t have the cards right now. You’re playing cards. You’re gambling with the lives of millions of people. You’re gambling with World War III.” The US President made clear that Ukraine must make a deal or risk losing US support. It may be noted that President Trump used the phrase World War III in front of a world leader in a rare first.

President Trump reportedly asked President Zelenskyy to be realistic. In reply, the Ukrainian President told his host: “OK. So he (Putin) occupied it, our parts, big parts of Ukraine, parts of the east and Crimea. So he occupied it in 2014. So during a lot of years – I’m not speaking about just Biden, but those times was (Barack) Obama, then President Obama, then President Trump, then President Biden, now President Trump. And God bless, now, President Trump will stop him. But during 2014, nobody stopped him. He just occupied and took. He killed people. You know what the…“

As expected, the Kremlin is happy with the collapse of the Trump-Zelenskyy meeting. Moscow has held the Ukrainian President responsible for the collapse, with Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev, the Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of Russia, stating: “This rude pig finally got a hard slap in the White House.“

Meanwhile, Britain has come forward to help Ukraine after the collapse of the Trump-Zelenskyy meeting. The UK signed an agreement with Kiev on March 1, 2025 to provide Ukraine with a loan worth GBP 2.26 billion (USD 2.84 billion) backed by frozen Russian assets. The loan, which is part of the Group of Seven‘s (G7) Extraordinary Revenue Acceleration (ERA) credit initiative, was signed amid President Zelenskyy’s visit to London to meet British Prime Minister Starmer. Hence, there is a strong possibility that the war would spread further in the coming days. Political analysts have opined that the foreign policy of the EU and the US would certainly change direction.

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Published by Koushik Das

Koushik Das (born on May 16, 1976 in Kolkata) is a career journalist. Based in the Indian capital of New Delhi, Koushik writes mainly about foreign policies and current geopolitical issues, and rarely about other topics. His own political ideas are highly influenced by Antonio Gramsci, Louis Althusser, Michel Foucault, Michael Oakeshott and others. English philosopher and political theorist Oakeshott (Dec 11, 1901-Dec 19, 1990) says that “in political activity, men sail a boundless and bottomless sea. There is neither harbour for shelter nor floor for anchorage, neither starting-place, nor appointed destination. But we have to keep afloat”. (Rationalism in Politics, 1962) As a student of Political Science, Koushik loves to share his views on issues, which have great impacts on his thought process (and also on India, South Asia and of course on the global community), with his readers through his website – Boundless Ocean of Politics. By doing so, he tries to keep himself afloat. You will find some of his articles in https://inserbia.info/today/ (https://inserbia.info/today/author/kou_das13_i/), as he has been trying to assess the global geopolitics since 2003. You can also mail him at kousdas@gmail.com View all posts by Koushik Das