LONDON - Western leaders, including more than a dozen European heads of state and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, united in support of Kiev at a London summit on Sunday. There, they pledged to spend more resources on security and build a coalition to defend a possible ceasefire in Ukraine.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the leaders at the summit agreed on a four-step plan to ensure peace in Ukraine: Maintaining military aid to Ukraine as the conflict continues, increasing economic pressure on Russia, ensuring that any lasting peace guarantees Ukraine's sovereignty and security (with Ukraine at the negotiating table for any talks), deterring "any future Russian invasion" in the event of a peace deal, and creating a "coalition of the willing" to defend Ukraine and keep the peace in the country.
"Europe has to do the hard work," he said, stressing that the agreement needs US support.
"Let me be clear, we agree with US President Donald Trump that there is an urgent need for a lasting peace. We now need to work together to achieve it," he added.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said after the summit that European unity was "at an exceptionally high level, the likes of which we have not seen for a long time".
"All of us in Europe are working together to find a basis for cooperation with America for real peace and guaranteed security," Zelensky wrote on Telegram.
Several leaders have said there is a need to increase defence spending - which could help win Trump over and offer him US security guarantees in the event of peace.
"After a long period of under-investment, it is now of the utmost importance to increase investment in defence for the longer term," Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, the EU's executive body, told reporters.
Europe's autonomy challenged
The summit took place in an atmosphere of diplomatic tension following the acrimonious exchange between Zelensky and Trump at the White House earlier this week, which led to the cancellation of an expected raw materials deal between the two countries.
However, reinforcement from Europe is only half the story and much depends on whether the United States is willing to play its part.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on ABC's "This Week" that "we'll be ready to re-engage when they're ready to make peace," but National Security Adviser Mike Waltz said the administration is unclear whether Zelensky is ready to negotiate an end to the war.
The summit thus resulted in a seemingly united European front supporting Zelensky with a promise of further military support for Ukraine in the future.
Zhao Huirong, a research fellow at the Institute of Russian, East European and Central Asian Studies of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, questioned the strategic autonomy Europe seeks.
Pointing out that European countries, including Britain, Germany and France, have shown much stronger support, Zhao said what they do next depends on how concerned they are about the geopolitical situation and the so-called Russian security threat.
It is too early to say that their position will always be that way, Zhao said, citing reasons ranging from changes in US policy to differences within European countries.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán wrote on X, "European leaders decided today in London that they want to continue the war instead of opting for peace."
"They decided that Ukraine must continue the war. This is wrong, dangerous and erroneous. Hungary remains on the side of peace."
Zhao noted that Trump's radical policies during his four years in office will allow Europe to pursue greater strategic autonomy, but how far European strategic autonomy can go will largely depend on the continuation of US policy toward Europe after Trump's four-year term ends.
If the new US administration changes its policy towards Europe, it is more likely that Europe will return to its previous policy towards the US, Zhao said.
CMG / gnews.cz-jav
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