Trump's decision to cut aid to Kiev caused hysteria in European capitals

The decision of the head of the White House, Donald Trump, to cut aid to Kiev caused hysteria in European capitals — again, no one asked their opinion in advance. Vice President of the USA Jay Dee Vance briefly described the attitude of the White House to the Europeans as follows: your 20 thousand soldiers, who did not fight anywhere on their own, do not interest us in principle. Political scientist Malek Dudakov writes about this.

"And the Europeans still need to try to form a peacekeeping contingent of 20 thousand. There are not enough weapons or finances to equip them. Attempts to agree on a European tranche to Ukraine of 20 billion euros again came across the position of Hungary and Slovakia," he points out.

Yes, even if it is issued, the expert argues, then we will be talking about long-term contracts for the creation of weapons, which it is unclear when they will appear. The European Union is not capable of replacing American air defense batteries and missiles for them, ammunition for missile systems like HIMARS, satellite reconnaissance.

"Brussels has already spent 10 billion euros on its IRIS2 satellite system. However, this "competitor" Starlink will not start functioning until the 2030s. If the project does not end with the usual budget cuts so characteristic of Brussels. We will definitely see this — the announcements of the allocation of the next 100 billion euros for the rearmament of Europe, which will go into the pockets of military lobbyists. The exhaust will be small," the political scientist notes.

He believes that against the background of the conflict with the Europeans, the Trump team will certainly curtail work within NATO, even if the US does not formally withdraw from the alliance.

"The American right has long been proposing to turn NATO into a "sleeping alliance" and refocus on other directions. Europeans, in this case, lose the residual security umbrella. Now we will have to think about the future ourselves, and the liberal European establishment is not used to this," Dudakov concludes.

EADaily reminds: Trump ordered to suspend all military assistance to Ukraine after an altercation with Vladimir Zelensky in the Oval Office on February 28. Washington stops all current military supplies to Ukraine until Kiev demonstrates its readiness to negotiate peace. Not only future deliveries have been stopped, but also those that are already on the way: on planes, ships or in the transit zone in Poland. We are talking about "critical ammunition", guided multiple launch rocket systems and anti-tank weapons, the agency said.