US President Donald Trump criticized European leaders as “weak” and suggested the US could reduce support for Ukraine.
In a wide-ranging interview with Politico, he said “declining” European countries had failed to control migration or take decisive action to end Ukraine’s war with Russia, accusing them of letting kyiv fight “until it fell.”
He argued that Russia had “the advantage” and urged Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to “play ball” by ceding territory to Moscow.
In the United Kingdom, Downing Street rejected Trump’s claim that Europe had failed to act, citing the United Kingdom’s leadership on sanctions and reiterating its support for the US-led peace process.
Zelensky, writing in
In his interview, Trump claimed that ideological divisions now threaten to fracture Washington’s alliances.
When asked if leaders he considered weak could still be allies, he responded: “It depends,” adding: “I think they are weak, but I also think they want to be politically correct. I think they don’t know what to do.”
His comments come a day after European leaders met in London to discuss their continued joint efforts to reach a peace deal with Russia.
The talks were the latest attempt by Ukraine’s European allies to carve out a role in US-led efforts to end the war, which they fear will undermine the continent’s long-term interests in favor of a quick resolution.
Asked if Europe could help end Russia’s war with Ukraine, the US president said: “They talk but they don’t produce. And the war goes on and on.”
Ukraine is preparing to present a revised peace plan to the White House, seeking alternatives to any deal that requires territorial concessions.
Zelensky, who has again ruled out handing over land, is pressing European and NATO leaders to help dissuade the United States from backing a deal that kyiv fears would leave it open to future attacks.
Trump also suggested, without evidence, that the Ukrainian president was the main obstacle to peace, claiming that Ukrainian negotiators “loved” the US-backed proposal and claiming that Zelensky had not yet read it.
Trump’s latest public criticism of Europe comes as he seeks to increase pressure on Zelensky and kyiv’s allies to end the war in Ukraine.
The president’s comments also came after his administration released its new 33-page National Security Strategy, which warned of Europe’s potential “civilizational erasure” and questioned whether some nations could remain reliable allies.
Russia welcomed that strategy – which did not present Russia as a threat to the United States – as “largely consistent” with Moscow’s vision.
Responding to the strategy on Tuesday, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said some parts were plausible and others understandable, but other elements were unacceptable from a European point of view.
He rejected the idea that the United States needed to “save democracy” in Europe, saying Europeans could address such issues themselves.
The strategy also followed similar rhetoric to Trump’s UN speech earlier this year, where he harshly criticized Western Europe and its approach to migration and clean energy.
