Security guarantees for all of Europe—with Ukraine as key link

If we sum up Donald Trump's stance on Ukraine, it looks like this:

"Years of active war have shown that Ukraine cannot reclaim its territories by military means, no matter how much support it gets from the US. So, let's stop fighting and negotiate. If you don't agree, that's your choice, but we won't participate or fund the war."

In this view, neither Ukraine nor Russia is of particular importance to the US. It’s almost explicitly stated that the only reason America is involved at all is because of election promises. Otherwise, the situation would mirror the fate of USAID programs: shut down worldwide with a single decision — no warnings, no discussions, no media leaks in the West.

This logic explains almost everything happening now between Ukraine, the US, and Europe. Take the minerals agreement, for example, it contains no direct commitments for Ukraine. Its real purpose is to send a message to the American public: "We're not abandoning isolationism, but if we engage in global affairs, we want 500, 350, or at least 100 billion from rare earth metals."

"This is classic MAGA (Make America Great Again) strategy — Trump’s campaign playbook. The shift is clear: instead of talking about shared values and democracy, everything is now viewed through the lens of material benefit and business logic."

No one was ready for this. But now we must recognize this new reality and act accordingly.

Denial — anger — bargaining — depression — acceptance. The world is going through these stages alongside us.

Europeans are slowly reaching the acceptance stage. They understand there can be no separate security guarantees for Ukraine — only security guarantees for all of Europe, with Ukraine as a crucial link.

This is prompting a fundamental shift in European defense policies: militarization of Europe, lifting restrictions on military funding for individual countries, and discussions about replacing the American nuclear umbrella with a French one. A few months ago, these ideas seemed unthinkable.

What does this mean for Ukraine? We need to face reality head-on and act accordingly.

Our top priorities: keeping the military strong and well-supplied, maintaining national unity, and continuously working with allies (the US is still an ally, though not like before). And finally, building an honest, fair democracy — one that must be part of Ukraine’s long-term strategy for decades to come.

Source

About the author. Mykola Kniazhytskyi, journalist, People's Deputy of Ukraine.

The editorial staff does not always share the opinions expressed by the blog authors.