Zelensky Plaoyant but Europe is far from being able to replace US security guarantees

President Volodimir Zelenski was in a violent mood when I met him in Paris with a panel of three other European journalists. He had interrupted a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron at Elizhi Palace and returned there because of what he called “tête à tête dinner” after the interview.

Macron not only rolled the red carpet for him. The Eiffel Tower, behind Zelenski in the window of the picture, as we talked in one of the big museums in Paris, was lit in yellow and blue, the colors of the Ukrainian national flag.

The French wanted him to feel as if he were among friends. Zelenski had come to Paris to meet with leaders and diplomats from 30 other countries who develop what they could contribute to the “desire coalition”, the group, which the United Kingdom Prime Minister Sir Kiir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron were trying to organize to offer the long -term guarantees.

Zelenski’s greetings in Paris was a clear contrast with Dress, he was given to him by US President Donald Trump And his vice president JD Vance when he visited the White House last month.

After his verbal attack, Zelenski was unceremoniously thrown out of the White House and shortly after Trump ordered you to stop US military assistance and intelligence in Ukraine.

He was restored after Zelenski, advised by the British, French and other European allies, went out of his way to repair his fences with Trump and his administration.

He switched to the type of flattened language that Trump requires and agreed to an American plan for an unconditional 30-day cessation of fire. He first cut his insistence on guaranteeing US security to support any cessation of fire.

But although US military and intelligence is flowing, Trump’s relentless suspension from him, which costs Ukrainian life, has left a deep sense of anxiety in Ukraine and among its European allies.

The evidence is accumulated that the United States of Trump is not a reliable ally. It is easier to outline scenarios that may not be an ally.

Most European leaders are still trying to act publicly, as if the 80-year-old union with the United States is healthy. But gathering 30 countries in Paris shows that they are aware that they can no longer rely on the benevolence of the United States.

The American presidents returned to Dwight D. Eisenhower in the late 1950s, complained, with a good reason that Europeans were receiving free ride from the American Security blanket over Europe. Trump finally withdrew him.

During the interview, Zelenski praised the array of plans that are formulated in Western Europe – led by the United Kingdom, France and Germany – to spend more on defense.

He suggested that after three to five years, “if everything goes as it is now,” Europe can even catch up with the United States.

In the best case, this is an extremely optimistic assessment, less accurate forecast and more gesture of appreciation to European allies, which, unlike Americans, give very few conditions and strings to support Ukraine.

Europe, Zelenski said, “there is discipline and no chaos.” This can be seen as a sloping and unsuccessful comparison with the turns coming out of Trump’s White House.

I asked him about the conditions that Russian President Vladimir Putin was tied to the smallest step in the Trump Peace Initiative, which is a maritime termination of fire in the Black Sea.

After Ukraine and Russia held separate meetings with Americans in Saudi Arabia, the Kremlin issued a statement that required discounts as a price of Russia to end fire.

The most significant demand was for the State Russian Bank to be harvested to the Swift system for international payments. This will open the door back to the main global trade for Russia.

This solution does not depend on Trump as Swift is based in Belgium.

The European Union Foreign Affairs spokesman responded with a statement that says that one of the “main prerequisites” for raising or changing sanctions against Russia was “the end of Russian unprovoked and unjustified aggression in Ukraine and the unconditional withdrawal of all Russian military forces from all over the territory of Ukraine.”

Even Trump, reluctant to criticize Putin, suggested that Russia could “drag” in negotiations with the United States. This reminded him of his own business career.

He said on the American Cable Channel Newsmax that “I’ve done it over the years … I don’t want to sign a contract. I want to stay in the game.”

I asked Zelenski where the impetus was to end the fire, considering Russia’s demands. He called for a decisive response from the Americans.

“If America is going to stand strong and will not bend to the conditions of the Russians – we stand on our land.

“We defend it; we have shown our resistance to all … And now it is very important for our partners to be resistant and strong, at least the least as we are.”

I asked if he believed that the Americans, as he said it, would remain strong.

“I hope it is. I hope it is. God will do you. But we will see.”

Zelenski has no choice to point out his Trump faith in America, although there must be serious doubts.

Trump’s decision to punish Ukraine by interrupting military intelligence for rocket launches in Russia had an immediate and deadly impact, and Zelenski had to work hard to make Trump retreat. He doesn’t want to repeat himself.

He was open why he had to try to stay close to Trump, even when the US president seemed to prioritize relations with Moscow while repeating Russian propaganda points, last but not least, the lie that Ukraine began the war.

“We had to unblock help from the US. For us, the intelligence exchange is very important.”

This did not stop Zelenski from restoring the comments made by Steve Vikof, Trump’s super envoy, the billionaire of real estate, turned into a diplomat that deals with the Middle East, as well as the Russian-Ukraine war.

In an interview last week with Tucker Carlson, a right -caste in the United States, Witkoff challenged Britain’s desire Starmer and France’s Macron to create the “desire coalition” to support Ukraine.

The American said it was a pose and a pose, a “simplistic desire” to sound like Winston Churchill. His words firmly fit into what it seems now is an opinion in the Trump administration that their previous allies in Europe are a parasitic burden for the United States.

What if Vitcof was right? Discard the insults and admit that the largest nations in Europe have chosen for decades to spend the greater part of their significant wealth on issues they consider more than their military.

Zelenski said Vitcof and others in the Trump administration have fallen for Russian propaganda.

“I think Vitcof often quotes the Kremlin’s stories … I can’t be ungrateful to Americans about everything they have done, but they often, unfortunately, under the influence of Russian stories. And we can’t agree with these stories.”

Zelenski suggested that Vitcof was better in his old work, developing real estate in Manhattan.

“He does not look like a military man. He does not look like a general and has no such experience. As far as I know, he is very good at selling and buying real estate. And it’s a little different.”

President Zelenski, for a man who lived with enormous pressure after the full invasion of Russia more than three years ago, was a remarkably floating, apparently pleased with the reception he had in Paris, and the efforts that President Macron and Prime Minister Starmer make to gather European support and to persuade, even if he was confronted, not to cut, and not to cut the intelligence.

Zelenski seemed pleased with her new strategy to agree to temporary terminations to force Putin to show his unwillingness to pause the war.

I asked Zelenski how she was dealing with the pressure. His purpose, he said, was that his children could “walk down the street and not have to hide.” And how he thought he would be remembered; Like the man who saved Ukraine or tried and failed? Zelenski slightly grimace. Better, he said, than Putin, who was growing old and afraid of his own people.

“He will die soon. This is a fact. His reign may end before completing his historically insignificant and unsuccessful life.

Zelenski laughed.

“And I will do my best to protect Ukraine as far as I can. And I’m definitely more than Putin.”

Trump can hope for a deal on Easter. Zelenski is still looking at the long road.