Europe has no plan on Ukraine while US not expected to help, Germany assesses
Nico Lange (photo: Getty Images)
European partners do not have a clear vision for moving forward, so Ukraine must independently develop solutions for EU security, says Nico Lange, former Chief of Staff at the German Ministry of Defense.
"We have to admit that this exercise of pleasing Trump, doing everything not to offend Trump, and playing in his theater of negotiations, did not deliver any results, and it's not expected that this will produce a result," he says.
According to Lange, the end of the so-called negotiation theater is not a tragedy, as this process has not yielded results. At the same time, the question of next steps and the role of European allies remains key.
The military expert notes that a small group of European countries is providing practical support to Ukraine, but they do not have a clear idea of how to move forward.
Lange believes that it is now important for Ukraine to receive assistance in strategic thinking so that Ukrainians have some ideas, "because there will be no ideas from the US, and if there are ideas from the US, they will be bad."
"Ukraine’s European partners have no ideas other than ‘let’s do the same thing, let’s provide more support, and hope that somehow everything will resolve itself," he adds.
Therefore, in his opinion, it is up to Ukraine to develop specific ideas.
"I would not expect big ideas from the partners; I would rather come up with good Ukrainian ideas," Nico Lange concludes.
Ukraine-Russia talks
This year, Ukraine has already held several rounds of negotiations with Russia and the United States.
However, an agreement on a ceasefire has not been reached, in particular due to Russia’s demands regarding the unoccupied part of Donbas, which Kyiv does not agree to.
Currently, negotiations are on hold due to the situation in the Middle East.
The Kremlin has previously commented on the progress of negotiations aimed at ending the war in Ukraine.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has issued a new statement regarding the trilateral talks.
