Ukraine and Europe must align their strategies with U.S. as closely as possible — expert

This was stated in a comment to Ukrinform by Orysia Lutsevych, Deputy Director of the Russia and Eurasia Program and Head of the Ukraine Forum at Chatham House.

The expert believes that it is now possible to enter a new stage in Ukrainian-American relations, because Trump has been in “experimental mode” until now, when his strategy was to try to put pressure on the weaker side, which he believed to be Ukraine. But Trump has seen that Ukraine is not so weak, and that Europe is on its side. At the same time, he has seen that it is very difficult to conduct business negotiations with Russia, and that Putin is, in fact, ideologically committed to this war and is no longer the person Trump knew.

“Therefore, it is now very important for Ukraine and Europe to align their strategies with Washington as much as possible so that the pressure on Russia is not only rhetorical, in Trump's words, but also practical. This applies primarily to armaments,” Lutsevych noted.

She reminded that the U.S. is not currently providing Ukraine with weapons at its own expense, and the existing mechanisms for purchasing them are very limited. The $2 billion spent this year is not the amount Ukraine needs, especially when it comes to very expensive long-range ammunition.

At the same time, the expert drew attention to what Trump said about a counteroffensive: that Ukraine is preparing for it and is capable of it.

“I think this is more rhetorical pressure on Russia to show what the consequences could be if it does not sit down at the negotiations,” Lutsevych suggested.

Speaking about the meeting between Presidents Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky scheduled for Friday in Washington, the expert noted that it is necessary to wait and see what the joint statement will be. In her opinion, the meeting at the White House with European leaders after Trump's summit with Putin in Alaska clearly demonstrated to the American President that Europe supports Ukraine, and perhaps that is why he decided that he could also put pressure on Europe, particularly on the issue of sanctions.

"But the worst-case scenario has been avoided so far. First, America is still selling weapons to Ukraine, although there were fears that the U.S. would completely cut off access to them. This did not happen. Second, Europe has realized that it has to buy these weapons and spend money on them. Third, Ukraine is developing its warfighting capabilities, namely long-range missiles and drones. Therefore, I think that if we now adapt to this new stage in relations between the U.S. and Europe, Ukraine will stand firm and will not be pressured into agreeing to restrictions on its sovereignty or legal recognition of Russia's territorial gains. But whether we can achieve the best-case scenario remains to be seen," Lutsevych concluded.

As reported, Volodymyr Zelensky is scheduled to meet with Donald Trump in Washington on Friday.

The U.S. President has expressed his conviction that the Ukrainian Armed Forces want to start the offensive in the war begun by Russia, and he will discuss this with the Ukrainian leader.