US President Donald Trump has attacked European leaders as “weak” and suggested the US might reduce support for Ukraine.
In a wide-ranging interview with Politico, he said “decaying” European countries had failed to control migration and had not taken decisive steps to end the war in Ukraine, accusing them of letting Kyiv fight “until they drop”. He criticised European attempts to shape a role in US-led efforts to halt the fighting, saying they talk but do not produce results.
The UK’s Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper pushed back, saying she saw “strength” in Europe, pointing to defence investment and funding for Kyiv. She added that two presidents — referring to Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky — were “working for peace”, while President Putin has continued to escalate the conflict with drone and missile strikes.
Trump increased pressure on Zelensky to accept a peace deal, urging him to “play ball” by ceding territory to Moscow. Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Zelensky said on X that Ukraine and Europe were actively working on “all components of potential steps toward ending the war” and that the Ukrainian and European parts of the plan were now more developed; he later told reporters he expected the plans to be submitted to the US on Wednesday.
Trump’s remarks followed a London meeting of European leaders to coordinate efforts to stop the fighting. Asked whether Europe could help end the war, Trump said: “They talk but they don’t produce. And the war just keeps going on and on.” US officials have held separate talks with Ukrainian and Russian representatives in recent weeks to try to broker an end to hostilities, but no agreement has been reached. Ukraine’s president has urged European and NATO leaders to help deter the US from backing a deal Kyiv fears would leave it vulnerable to future attacks.
On Sunday, Trump suggested — without presenting evidence — that Zelensky was the main obstacle to peace. He told reporters that Russia was “fine” with the US-backed proposal being discussed, which contains major concessions for Ukraine that allies worry could expose it to another invasion. In the Politico interview he said Ukrainian negotiators “loved” the US proposal and alleged Zelensky had not yet read it.
Trump repeated calls for Kyiv to hold elections, claiming the government was “using war” as a reason not to do so and saying: “You know, they talk about a democracy, but it gets to a point where it’s not a democracy anymore.” Zelensky’s five-year term was due to end in May 2024, but elections have been suspended under martial law since the invasion. After Trump’s comments, Zelensky said he was “ready for the elections” and would seek proposals to amend the law; he suggested elections could be held within 60 to 90 days if security were guaranteed with the help of the US and other allies.
Trump also argued that ideological divisions threatened to fracture US ties with Europe. Asked whether leaders he viewed as weak could still be allies, he replied: “It depends,” adding that he thought many were weak and too politically correct, unsure of what to do.
His comments came as the administration released a 33-page National Security Strategy that warned of Europe’s potential “civilisational erasure” and questioned whether some nations could remain reliable partners. Russia welcomed the document as largely consistent with its own view, noting it did not portray Moscow as a threat to the US. German chancellor Friedrich Merz said parts of the strategy were plausible or understandable, but other elements were unacceptable from a European perspective, rejecting the idea that the US needed to “save democracy” in Europe and insisting Europeans can address such issues themselves.
Trump also warned that many European countries “will not be viable countries any longer” if current trends continued, calling immigration policies “a disaster.” He praised Hungary and Poland for doing a “very good job” on immigration but said most European nations were “decaying.” The strategy echoed themes from Trump’s earlier speech to the UN this year, where he criticised Western Europe over migration and clean energy.
