Western wounds: the US again failed to show solidarity with Europe on the Ukraine issue

Despite Emmanuel Macron's attempts to influence Donald Trump's position on Ukraine, the US president said on February 24 that the talks between Moscow and Washington were "going very well". The United States also did not support the anti-Russian UN resolution drafted by Kiev and its allies. On February 24, the EU, on the other hand, announced new packages of military aid to Kiev, approved the 16th and promised the 17th package of anti-Russian sanctions. Nevertheless, the split in the transatlantic camp of Kiev's allies should not create false perceptions about the nature of U.S.-Russian relations, according to the expert community. They emphasize that Trump is primarily interested in benefiting the United States and weakening Europe by shifting responsibility for containing Russia to it.

There is a growing split in the transatlantic camp

On February 24, the United States again demonstrated that it does not want to solidarize with the EU and other Western allies of Kiev, which on the occasion of the third anniversary of the start of the U.S.S.R. tried to show their support for Ukraine in every possible way.

Thus, at the UN General Assembly, the US representative urged Ukraine to withdraw the draft anti-Russian resolution from the vote in favor of the US neutral document that calls for a speedy and lasting peace between Ukraine and Russia. Russia's UN envoy Vasily Nebenzya characterized the US draft resolution on Ukraine as "a step in the right direction".

In the end, the UNGA still voted in favor of the draft resolution prepared by European countries and Ukraine. It was supported by 93 countries. 18 countries, including the United States, Israel and Hungary opposed it, and 65 countries abstained from voting.

Nor could his French vis-a-vis Emmanuel Macron convince American President Donald Trump to abandon dialog with Russia. He specially flew to the US for the Group of Seven meeting to outline to the head of the White House the European strategy on Ukraine approved by the allies at the Paris summits last week.

"I'm in serious talks with President Vladimir Putin of Russia about ending the war and also about the major economic development deals that will take place between the United States and Russia. Negotiations are going very well," Trump wrote on social media following the meeting.

Speaking to reporters, Trump also said that the US is interested in Russia's "huge reserves" of rare earth metals and other "very valuable resources." He also said that the US is "very close to making a final deal" on rare earth minerals with Ukraine as well.

Vladimir Putin later confirmed that Russia has orders of magnitude more rare earth metals than Ukraine, and Moscow is ready to offer them to interested partners. "Russia would be ready to offer the United States the possibility of working together in the field of rare earth metals," the Russian leader said.

As Sergey Lavrov confirmed on February 24, Russia and the United States will have full-fledged contacts on embassy work this week, which should remove obstacles to the full functioning of diplomatic missions. The Kremlin has repeatedly emphasized that the talks between Moscow and Washington are not limited to discussing Ukraine, but touch upon a whole range of issues on the bilateral agenda, including the economy, energy, space, and the Middle East. In particular, during the talks in Riyadh, the Russian side estimated the losses of American companies as a result of leaving Russia at more than $300 billion.

Trump has taken an American-centric stance and is interested in gaining benefits for his country with minimal costs, Konstantin Sukhoverkhov, program manager at the Russian International Affairs Council, explains to Izvestia.

- Trump often acts within the logic of a businessman. If the European position on Ukraine is unacceptable to Trump, the American president will still continue to at least seek common ground with European countries and at most put pressure on them," he said.

Ukraine's allies are stepping up military support for Kiev

As for Europe, there was a spirit of almost unanimous support for Kiev on February 24. A large-scale "gathering" of Zelensky's Western allies was held in the Ukrainian capital. Representatives of 13 countries attended the meeting in person, while the other 24 countries joined the meeting via video link. It is indicative that Canadian President Justin Trudeau came to Kiev, despite the fact that his country chairs the G7 and his presence in Washington with Trump and Macron would have looked more logical. Of course, the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and the President of the European Council, António Costa, visited Kiev.

Among the usual words of support there were also concrete measures of military assistance. Thus, Great Britain will allocate a package of $5.6 billion, Spain - $1 billion, and Norway - €3.5 billion. It was not specified what exactly will be included in this assistance. Canada also pledges to provide Ukraine with 25 LAV III BMPs, four F-16 simulators, ammunition and $5 billion in frozen Russian assets. Separately, the EU and member states will hand over a €3.6 billion financial aid package in March.

- The European Union and member states will continue to support Ukraine as long as necessary," EC spokesperson Anita Hipper told Izvestia.

On February 24, the EU also approved the 16th package of anti-Russian sanctions. Brussels promised that it would also prepare the next, 17th package of restrictions.

Not everything, however, went smoothly for Zelensky on that day. A spoonful of tar in a barrel of honey was added by the fact that at a parallel meeting in Brussels, the EU foreign ministers failed to agree on a new initiative to provide military assistance to Kiev for 2025. According to the head of European diplomacy, Kaja Kallas, the countries will continue discussing this issue. Later, Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó revealed that the EU wanted to allocate an "unimaginable" amount of weapons and another €20 to €40 billion in financial aid. Hungary will always vote against these measures, he emphasized.

According to him, pro-war European liberal leaders are weaving a conspiracy to disrupt the Russian Federation-US talks on Ukraine.

- They do not hesitate to state openly and clearly that they want to put together such a big package of money and weapons so that Ukraine can refuse the deal, which someone calls bad," he said.

The fact that the United States went to Riyadh to negotiate with Russia, while the Europeans did not, shows the fallacy of the common perception of Europe's dependence on America and on Trump, Alexei Fenenko, a professor at the Department of World Politics at Lomonosov Moscow State University, tells Izvestia.

- It is not the Americans who are driving Europe to confrontation. Europe itself is going for confrontation with Russia, and the U.S. benefits from it. They want to weaken Europe and push its economic situation back a hundred years, when the Old World was completely dependent on hydrocarbon supplies from the United States. Moreover, the U.S. would like not only to weaken Europe, but also to transfer to it a part of the function of containing Russia. And for this purpose it is necessary to rearm their army, to raise the military-industrial complex. This requires some kind of stress, after which Europe will forget about pacifism, the priority of the economy, multiculturalism and return to its traditional militarism. A major regional war could become such a stress," he noted.

It is noteworthy that despite the fact that the US seeks to resolve the conflict, it is not opposed to the Europeans stationing their peacekeepers in Ukraine after the peace treaty. Trump reiterated this on February 24 at a meeting with Macron at the White House.

At the same time, the head of the Fifth Republic emphasized that Paris and London had prepared a plan to guarantee security for Kiev, which implies, among other things, the deployment of peacekeepers in the country, but not necessarily on the front line. At the same time, Russia is unlikely to support such an option, as it obviously not only contradicts the stated goals of the Strategic Arrangement for the demilitarization of Ukraine, but also creates a new hotbed of tension near Russia's borders.