As Trump-Putin axis consolidates, Europe looks for a say in deciding Ukraine’s future

Three hours of emergency talks at the Elysee Palace in Paris left leaders of Germany, the United Kingdom, Italy, Poland, Spain, the Netherlands, Denmark, NATO and the European Union without a common view on possible peacekeeping troops after a US diplomatic blitz on Ukraine last week threw a once-solid trans-Atlantic alliance into turmoil French President Emmanuel Macron gestures after a meeting with European leaders on Ukraine and European security at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France. Three hours of emergency talks at the Elysee Palace in Paris left leaders of Germany, the United Kingdom, Italy, Poland, Spain, the Netherlands, Denmark, NATO and the European Union without a common view on possible peacekeeping troops after a US diplomatic blitz on Ukraine last week threw a once-solid trans-Atlantic alliance into turmoil. The US to leave Europe out of negotiations Gen. Keith Kellogg, Trump’s special envoy for Ukraine and Russia, said Monday he didn’t think it was “reasonable and feasible to have everybody sitting at the table.” “We know how that can turn out and that has been our point, is keeping it clean and fast as we can,” he told reporters in Brussels, where he briefed the 31 US allies in NATO, along with EU officials, before heading to Kyiv for talks on Wednesday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said that any peace agreement would need to have the active involvement of the EU and Ukraine, so as to not be a false end to the war “as has happened in the past.” He went on: “What cannot be is that the aggressor is rewarded.” A strong US component, though, will remain essential for the foreseeable future since it will take many years before many European nations can ratchet up defense production and integrate it into an effective force.