On February 28, a meeting between President Trump and Zelensky shook the geopolitical landscape of Europe. In the days following the meeting with Zelensky, Trump paused military aid and intelligence sharing with Ukraine. He is also considering pulling troops out of Europe and even leaving NATO entirely. He stated that if NATO members don’t increase spending on defense from a minimum of 2% of GDP to 5% of GDP, then the U..S will not defend them. Although that level of spending is unrealistic for most NATO members, Trump does have a point. Europe needs to step up its spending dramatically to be able to defend itself against Russia and Trump’s moves have pressured Europe into doing just that.
Following the White House meeting, British Prime Minister Starmer gathered EU leaders at a summit in London to meet with Ukrainian President Zelensky. The summit’s goal was to form a plan to stop the war in Ukraine and to deter Russia from further aggression. A few days later the European Commission unveiled a $840 billion dollar plan to up defense spending. However, Europe is still not doing enough. In 2024, Russia produced over 3 million artillery shells, 1,500 tanks, and 1.5 million drones. While Europe combined only produced a total of 600,000 shells, and has been giving much of its stockpiles of tanks, SAMs, and other vehicles to Ukraine, trusting that the US would have its back so it wouldn’t need those stockpiles in a future war. Although many countries are trying to rebuild their stockpiles, the military-industrial complex is unwilling to build new factories until long-term contracts are agreed upon. This is a difficult thing to do as defense spending is not popular in Europe, even with the ongoing war in Ukraine.
All of this is great news for Russia who the U.S. has been warming relations with, siding with Russia, and North Korea in a UN vote on February 24th. Russian negotiations with the U.S. for peace in Ukraine have also taken place recently. This may seem like a good thing for Ukraine. Still, the current administration would likely cut a deal that benefits Russia far more than Ukraine, forcing Ukraine to give up more of their territory, resources, and providing no safeguards to prevent Russia from just attacking again. This deal would also send a weak message to our enemies, such as China who has been upping its military presence in the South China Sea in preparation for an invasion against Taiwan. With an emerging axis of Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea, it is important that we do not abandon our allies, but rather stand with democracy, and be a leader of the free world.
