Following another week of diplomatic flip-flopping in the United States, Ukraine’s European allies did not disappoint when it came to the fulsomeness of their diplomatic rhetoric. Yet concrete action to strengthen the capabilities Ukraine needs to win the war remained at a snail’s pace.
After a less than successful meeting in the White House on October 17 between the American and Ukrainian presidents, Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine and its European allies once again scrambled to respond to US equivocation with public affirmations of support for Kyiv.
A meeting of EU foreign ministers on Monday October 20, a summit of EU leaders on Thursday October 23, and a gathering of the coalition of the willing on Friday October 24, provided plenty of opportunities for such statements. For good measure, the Nato secretary general, Mark Rutte, paid a visit to Washington on October 21 and 22 before joining the leaders of the coalition of the willing on Friday.
