Trump triggers Western anger over ‘appeasement’ talks with Putin 

LONDON — Europe’s leaders started adjusting to their cold new world without American protection on Thursday — and began to push back against Donald Trump’s peace plan for Ukraine. 

In Brussels, Berlin, Paris and London, a growing chorus of voices — some calm, others angry — warned the U.S. president that conceding to the demands of Russian leader Vladimir Putin for territory would amount to “appeasement.” 

The term, which is used to describe the doomed diplomatic efforts before the outbreak of World War II that failed to stop Hitler, resonates powerfully through the capitals of Europe. 

Western dismay at the new U.S. position focused on Trump’s decision to rule out NATO membership for Ukraine, ban American troops from policing the peace, and reject Kyiv’s goal of retaking all the land Russia has seized since 2014. 

One line dominated as officials digested Trump’s blueprint: Ukraine and its allies will not endorse any deal struck by Russia and the U.S. without Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the negotiating table. For that matter, the Europeans said, they must be involved too. 

“It is clear that any deal behind our backs will not work. You need the Europeans, you need the Ukrainians,” the EU’s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, told journalists on the sidelines of a meeting of NATO ministers. “Why are we giving them [Russia] everything they want even before the negotiations have started? It’s appeasement. It has never worked.” 

Special relations

Kallas is the most senior official in the European Commission, the bloc’s executive arm, to have commented so far. A former Estonian prime minister, she is known as a Russia hawk and Trump skeptic. But even in Britain, which likes to boast of its “special relationship” with the U.S., there was shock and anger at the new president’s gambit. 

“History has shown time and again that appeasement fails,” British lawmaker David Reed, who used to serve in the Royal Marines, told POLITICO in a statement. “This war must end on Ukraine’s terms — anything less would be a betrayal of a brave ally who was invaded without provocation, and a direct threat to Europe’s security.”

Even Keir Starmer, the U.K. prime minister who has worked hard to foster good relations with Trump, declined to endorse the detail of the American plan. “There can’t be negotiations around Ukraine without Ukraine being at the heart of it,” Starmer said.

Starmer insisted Ukraine should remain on the path to NATO membership, an idea Putin vehemently opposes and one Trump has ruled out.

The EU’s Kallas also backed NATO membership for Ukraine as the “strongest” and “cheapest” security guarantee available. She suggested the war would continue with European support if Zelenskyy is cut out of the talks. “If there is agreement made behind our backs it simply will not work,” she said. “The Ukrainians will resist and we will support them.” 

Ukraine’s invited

Zelenskyy himself warned again on Thursday that he would not accept a peace deal struck without Ukraine at the table. 

Speaking at the end of a NATO defense ministers’ summit in Brussels, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth tried to reassure his audience, saying the talks would include “both” Russia and Ukraine.

The Kremlin said Ukraine would be part of the negotiations “one way or another,” but that there would be a “bilateral Russian-American track.” It’s not clear what role the EU or U.K. might have.

Not everyone in Europe backs Kyiv with the same passion.

Hungary’s Viktor Orbán mocked a statement from Kallas in which she said European powers would keep supporting Ukraine. “The position of Brussels — to support killing as long as it takes — is morally and politically unacceptable,” Orbán said. “While President Donald Trump and President Putin negotiate on peace, EU officials issue worthless statements.”

One European diplomat summed up the concerns of many others who fear Trump can’t be trusted to strike a deal with Putin.

“There is a big worry that Trump is a clumsy negotiator, he will cede crazy things to Russia,” the diplomat said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters. “The general impression is that the Americans are messing up the process.”

Noah Keate contributed from London and Elena Giordano contributed from Brussels.