"The European political elite still holds onto the belief that Ukraine can somehow prevail on the battlefield if funded. This week is shaping up to be crucial for the European Union's policy on Ukraine. EU foreign ministers met in Brussels on Monday; EU heads of state will gather on Thursday. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is meeting United States envoy Steve Witkoff. At the top of the agenda is the peace plan put forward by US President Donald Trump and continuing funding for Ukraine's war effort."
"The European strategy so far has been to alter the US-proposed peace plan in such a way that it becomes completely unacceptable to Russia. This, as European leaders hope, will reinforce the core narrative emanating from their capitals over the past two months that Russian President Vladimir Putin is just playing games and doesn't really want peace. The idea behind it is to try to sway Trump to their side."
EU decision-making this week centers on a US peace plan and continued funding for Ukraine's war effort as ministers and heads of state meet and Zelenskyy meets a US envoy. European strategy has been to alter the US-proposed plan to make it unacceptable to Russia, aiming to portray Putin as uninterested in peace and to pressure Trump into applying more pressure on the Kremlin. The practical challenge is who will fund Ukraine in 2026: Trump shifts financial responsibility to Europe while US weapons continue to be funded by European money and US intelligence support remains free. European rejection of realistic compromise persists.
Read at www.aljazeera.com
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