Europe’s Nightmare Is Here: They Have to Fight Putin Without the US
The Oval Office blow up between Zelenskiy and Trump laid bare for many Europeans that something critical has broken in their relationship with Washington
A Ukraine soldier with the 44th Separate Artillery Brigade at an outpost in the Zaporizhzhia region in February.
Photographer: Dmytro Smolienko/NurPhoto/Getty ImagesEuropean leaders are confronting their worst-case scenario: maybe they really are going to be dealing with a bellicose Russia alone.
When the US lined up alongside Russia and North Korea earlier this week to oppose a UN motion condemning Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, some European officials knew that the transatlantic relationship was in deep trouble. Then they watched in horror as Donald Trump gave Volodymyr Zelenskiy a public dressing down in the Oval Office and something broke.