It is reasonable to be frustrated or worried – even to annoy – from the outcome of Donald Trump’s telephone conversation with Vladimir Putin this week. The US president’s focus was from day one to achieve a reinstatement of relations with Russia that would also provide a financial reward in the US. American participation in the war was a parameter that had to be excluded before that happened. A peace arrangement, instead of abandoning Ukraine, was the best perspective. However, it was not necessary. “This was a European affair and should remain a European case,” Trump said on Monday. Well, after this clearing, now what?

First, if Congress does not force Trump, he can leave the long, unhappy work of mediation for a peacekeeping settlement to the Pope, the President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan or to anyone who wants to take it. In the meantime, it may focus on making money. From the Moscow perspective, this could hardly end better. Putin has made an indefinite new proposal for direct talks with Ukraine and put his demands on a memorandum. We can guess well what this will include, because the Kremlin has repeatedly repeated its terms for peace. Now that Trump has abandoned the common line, Putin has less motivation than ever to reduce: Ukraine would have to deliver free as well as occupied territory areas that Russia has officially attached, reject any links with NATO and exterminate it.

That is why the Ukrainians have no choice but to continue to fight. Without the future ability to defend, their country will no longer exist as a sovereign state. In terms of MoscowUkraine is a Frankenstein nation, with Kiev and most territories that rightly rule part of the so -called “Russian world”. The separate language, culture and history of the country are, in this respect, fake.

“How can this heritage share between Russia and Ukraine? And why do we do it? ” Putin wrote in a 6,900 -word essay on the historical unit of the Russians and Ukrainians in 2021. A few months later, this treatise was given to the hands of officers sent to lead his invasion. For foreign policy “realists”, this is fate, because Russia is a great power and Ukraine is not. Continuing the war with or without the support of the US would, at best, imply Ukraine’s continuing daily sacrifice and territory, possibly for many more years, so why do it? Whether the Ukrainians can even maintain this level of defense, instead of suffering a total destruction due to lack of weapons and ammunition, now depends on Europe. Will this rich but evaporated continent have the political will and industrial capacity to supply Kiev forces with whatever they need? Ukrainians know their fate if they are delivered: torture, executions, demonstration trials, transformed school programs and kidnappings, brainwashing their children. The Italians and the Spaniards do not feel so imperative the need for a resistance struggle.

Europe’s leaders knew from Trump’s election that US departure was possible. They have said all the right words, but – except for the first line states, such as Poland and the Little Baltic – their actions are far behind. However, this is pessimism, not realism. What will happen next is an option, such as an option for Trump not to use the tools at his disposal to push Putin.

Ukrainian forces are, without a doubt, in a bad position, but they will continue to fight because they should. And United Kingdom, France, Germany And most of Northern and Eastern Europe recognize that Ukraine’s defense is in many ways their own. These countries have the financial means. What they lack is the industrial ability to fill the gap that the US departure will leave behind, as well as the collective sense of urgency to do whatever they need to correct it.

Just look at the new EB-EU security and defense policy agreement, which linked the alleged vital defensive measures with disagreements on irrelevant issues such as young people’s mobility, which ended so much. Ukraine released military equipment worth about $ 750 million a year before the Russian invasion in 2022. This year it has the ability, if not the capital, to make about $ 35 billion, including a global drone industry.

Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelenski He said that 40% of the weapons used on the front are now produced in his country and this rate continues to increase. A program under Denmark to finance the unused Ukrainian capacity already exists and can be expanded. European governments and arms manufacturers, meanwhile, can focus on filling the critical gaps on aircraft, rockets, air defense systems and much more that Kiev cannot produce alone. This is difficult, but not a dream. Companies such as Rheinmetall AG, KNDS Group and BAE Systems PLC have already opened offices in Ukraine, understanding the opportunities for low -cost research and production opportunities.

Ukraine’s defense can and should be seen as a catalyst for accelerating European security and not as an obstacle. It takes an optimist to think that the leaders of Epirus will look beyond local discussions to happen, but no more than to believe that the Ukrainians would be able to defeat Russia’s initial attack in Kiev in February 2022. Trump had the resources to increase the financial and military pressure on Putin until he was sitting for real peace talks. He just chose not to use them. Now it’s Europe’s turn to choose …