US President Donald Trump sharply criticised European leaders as “weak” and described many European countries as “decaying” because of migration policies and failure to end the Ukraine war quickly.
In a wide-ranging Politico interview, he accused Europe of letting Ukraine fight “until they drop” and said the continent had failed to control migration or take decisive action.
Trump increased pressure on President Volodymyr Zelensky to “play ball” by ceding territory to Moscow and claimed Kyiv “loved” a US peace proposal that would leave Ukraine vulnerable to future attacks.
He repeated accusations that Zelensky uses the war to avoid elections and said democracy in Ukraine had reached a point where “it’s not a democracy anymore”.
Europe pushes back
UK Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper responded that she sees only “strength” in Europe, pointing to increased defence spending and support for Kyiv.
She said two presidents, Trump and Zelensky, work for peace, while “one president, President Putin, has so far simply sought to escalate the conflict with further drone and missile attacks”.
Zelensky wrote on X that Ukraine and Europe are actively developing “all components of potential steps toward ending the war” and will submit updated plans to the US on Wednesday.
Today, we already discussed with our negotiating team the results of yesterday’s work in London, which was conducted at the level of the National Security Advisors of our European partners. This was agreed upon yesterday at the leadersʼ level.
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) December 9, 2025
We are working very actively on…
Trump on Tuesday, European leaders met in London to coordinate continued joint efforts to stop the fighting. Trump dismissed their role: “They talk but they don’t produce. And the war just keeps going on and on.”
New US National Security Strategy
The remarks follow the release of Trump’s 33-page National Security Strategy, which warns of Europe’s possible “civilisational erasure” and questions whether some nations remain reliable allies.
The document does not label Russia as a threat to the US; a stance Moscow welcomed as “largely consistent” with its own vision.
Trump praised Hungary and Poland for handling migration well but said most European countries face disaster on current path: “Many countries in Europe will not be viable countries any longer.”
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz called parts of the strategy plausible but rejected the idea that the US must “save democracy” in Europe, insisting Europeans can handle their own affairs.
Source: BBC
Featured photo: The Economic Times
Also read: Zelensky to Trump: Ukraine election-ready with security guarantees
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