European leaders are scrambling to respond to President Trump\u2019s first moves to end Russia\u2019s war in Ukraine, shocked to find themselves on the outside of high-stakes talks about the continent\u2019s security and grappling with a potential retreat of U.S. forces from Europe. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Secretary of State Marco Rubio\u2002<\/u><\/a>said \u201creal talks\u201d will involve Europe and Ukraine, as he prepares to meet his Russian counterpart in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday. But that follows a slew of mixed messages from Trump\u2019s top officials and a browbeating from Vice President Vance at the Munich Security Conference last week. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Leaders of eight major European countries met Monday to coordinate a response, after being caught on their back foot by Trump\u2019s opening gambit on Russia-Ukraine talks. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Even Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky\u2002<\/u><\/a>on Monday said he \u201cknew nothing about\u201d the peace discussions in the Middle East until they were announced publicly. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI think Europe is realizing that they have to come up with a plan, quickly, and on their own to be ready for whatever comes next,\u201d said Sudha David-Wilp, vice president of external relations and senior fellow with the German Marshall Fund. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe mood was turning from bad to worse,\u201d said one European foreign policy expert who attended the Munich conference, granted anonymity to speak candidly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n European officials expected to be taken to task over low defense spending, but not to be left out of talks completely. The uncertainty is already spurring talks on loosening the EU\u2019s budgetary deficit requirements to allow more spending on defense, the expert said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThere will probably be a series of announcements by Europeans in the upcoming days to signal to the Americans that they are to be taken seriously \u2014 but also to reassure each other,\u201d they said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n French President Emmanuel Macron called the emergency meeting on Monday, inviting the leaders of Germany, the United Kingdom, Italy, Poland, Spain, the Netherlands, Denmark and the European Union.<\/p>\n\n\n\n U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer proposed sending<\/u><\/a> British troops to Ukraine as postwar peacekeepers, responding to Trump\u2019s calls for Europe to take more responsibility for its security. <\/p>\n\n\n\n And Zelensky lectured Europe against being treated \u201clike a pushover\u201d and called for the European Union to nominate an envoy to any peace talks. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThere must be a representative of Europe,\u201d Zelensky told reporters<\/u><\/a>, also warning that \u201cUkraine regards any negotiations about Ukraine without Ukraine as having no results.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Trump administration fueled European fears throughout last week, starting with Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth attending a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group in Brussels. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Hegseth warned Europe to prepare for a future without U.S. troops on the continent, and triggered whiplash by seeming to rule out Ukraine joining NATO as part of peace talks, before later saying all options remain on the table. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Trump then called Russian President Vladimir Putin\u2002<\/u><\/a>to discuss a ceasefire, before later speaking with Zelensky. And Vance closed out the week by lecturing Europeans on democracy, saying its leaders were scared of their own voters. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Trump\u2019s special envoy for Ukraine, retired Gen. Keith Kellogg,<\/u><\/a> seemed to confirm Saturday that the U.S. does not see Europe as having a physical seat at the negotiations \u2014 but said it would take the region\u2019s interests into account.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhat we don\u2019t want to do is get into a large group discussion,\u201d Kellogg said Saturday in Munich. <\/p>\n\n\n\n That will be true for at least the first round of talks, set to begin in the Saudi capital on Tuesday and include Rubio, national security adviser Mike Waltz and special envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff, along with Russia officials, according to the State Department. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Rubio said Sunday<\/u><\/a> that the initial talks would determine how serious Russia was, and that if negotiations continue, \u201cUkraine will have to be involved because they\u2019re the ones that were invaded, and the Europeans will have to be involved because they have sanctions on Putin and Russia as well.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jennifer Kavanagh, senior fellow and director of military analysis at Defense Priorities, said Europe\u2019s role remains uncertain. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cTrump does see Putin as his counterpart, and does see the European leaders as lacking in sort of the geopolitical heft \u2014 which is true and partly their own fault,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAt the same time, though, I don\u2019t think it\u2019s clear that the Europeans will be shut out entirely from the negotiations.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n