European leaders brace for Trump siding with Moscow as energy sanctions are rolled back
European leaders gathering at an EU summit in Brussels this week are bracing for a scenario in which US President Donald Trump effectively sides with Moscow after a week of steps that rolled back years of US energy sanctions on Russia, pressured Kyiv to stop strikes on Russian oil refineries, and publicly questioned the legitimacy of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen told reporters in Brussels that "the Western alliance is now in a weaker position than it was a few days ago," and several EU leaders privately said Trump is inclined to attack Kyiv and back Moscow, and is unlikely to change. Zelenskyy has said he feels betrayed and publicly criticised Trump. Despite the friction, the US continues to sell weapons and share intelligence with Ukraine.
Key points
- At an EU summit in Brussels this week, European leaders publicly said the Western alliance is in a weaker position than a few days ago.
- In roughly a week Trump effectively rolled back years of US energy sanctions on Russia.
- Trump has begun pressing Kyiv to halt strikes on Russian oil refineries.
- Trump publicly questioned Zelenskyy's legitimacy, and Zelenskyy said he feels betrayed and criticised Trump.
- Volodymyr Putin is expected to have a chance to meet Trump at next month's APEC summit in China; neither Zelenskyy nor European leaders will be present.
- The US continues to sell weapons and share intelligence with Ukraine, which Kyiv describes as vital to its defence.
- EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said the EU "absolutely has a different approach to this war" and that pressure should be applied to the aggressor, not the victim.
Why it matters
The episode signals a possible fundamental shift in US policy toward Russia and Ukraine, with senior European leaders publicly saying the Western alliance is now in a weaker position. It features active US pressure on Kyiv to curb strikes on Russian energy infrastructure, a core element of Ukraine's wartime strategy, and Trump's questioning of Zelenskyy's legitimacy, which echoes talking points attributed to Russian propaganda. A planned Trump–Putin meeting at APEC in China next month will proceed without Ukrainian or European leaders in the room, raising fears of negotiations done over Ukraine's head. At the same time, the US continues to sell weapons and share intelligence that Kyiv describes as vital to its defence, leaving the alliance frayed but not yet broken.
What happened
European leaders gathering at an EU summit in Brussels this week are bracing for a scenario in which US President Donald Trump effectively sides with Moscow. According to reporting drawn from Bloomberg by Ukrainian outlets, over roughly the past week Trump rolled back years of US energy sanctions on Russia, pressed Kyiv to stop striking Russian oil refineries, and publicly questioned the legitimacy of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who said he feels betrayed and publicly criticised Trump in return.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen told reporters in Brussels on Thursday that "the Western alliance is now in a weaker position than it was a few days ago," and warned that failing to support Ukraine would leave all of Europe, and NATO as a whole, in a much more dangerous position. Several EU leaders, including from France and Germany, said privately that Trump is inclined to attack Kyiv and back Moscow, and is unlikely to change course.
The summit in Brussels comes ahead of a meeting next month between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin at the APEC summit in China, which neither Zelenskyy nor European leaders will attend. The US continues to sell weapons to Ukraine and share intelligence described as vital to its defence, even as relations fray.
How Ukrainian sources describe it
Both supplied outlets are Ukrainian-language and centre the story on the threat to Ukraine. They lead with European alarm, Trump's pro-Moscow pivot, and US pressure on Kyiv to stop refinery strikes, and they give prominent space to Zelenskyy saying he feels betrayed and to the sense that Ukraine is being asked to capitulate. They emphasise European concern about being excluded from any deal, as illustrated by the upcoming Trump–Putin meeting at APEC, at which neither Zelenskyy nor European leaders will be present. Several factual points repeat across the two pieces, including the framing of Trump as effectively siding with Moscow.
How international sources describe it
The international perspective in the available material is filtered through Ukrainian-language coverage of a Bloomberg report; no separately sourced international framing is presented.
Background
Trump and Zelenskyy have previously weathered similar strains in the relationship, including a heated Oval Office meeting last year that was followed by a temporary US curb on intelligence sharing. Washington previously pushed Kyiv to accept a 28-point peace plan that was largely seen as aligned with Russian interests. At the G7 summit in France, President Emmanuel Macron arranged a brief Trump–Zelenskyy meeting at which Zelenskyy showed Trump photographs of a Kyiv cathedral destroyed by Russian missiles. Ukraine faces a shortage of US Patriot interceptor missiles ahead of winter as Russia intensifies strikes on civilian infrastructure, causing recurring outages of electricity and water in Kyiv, and Kyiv's wartime spending is producing a large budget deficit that Europe is finding increasingly difficult to cover. EU foreign ministers agreed privately on Monday that Europe's policy on Ukraine should remain steady regardless of swings in Washington's position, cooperating with the US when possible and continuing to support Kyiv when not, and EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said the EU takes a clearly different approach to the war, arguing that pressure should be applied to the aggressor rather than the victim.