European officials fear Trump is preparing to blame them for Ukraine failure

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European officials fear Donald Trump’s new rhetoric on Ukraine aims to set them an impossible mission that will allow the US president to shift blame away from Washington if Kyiv falters in the war or runs short of cash.

After months of pressing Ukraine to settle with Moscow and give up Russian-occupied territory, the US president stunned European capitals on Tuesday by declaring on social media that Kyiv could “fight and win” all its land “with the help of the EU”.

While Trump’s new stance was welcomed in some quarters, several European officials concluded he was handing them responsibility for Ukraine’s defence with expectations that Europe would find hard to meet.

Trump has also taken a stronger position on sanctions, calling on the EU to halt purchases of Russian oil and hit China and India with tariffs — steps that Hungary’s Viktor Orbán, a Trump ally, has long said he would block.

“This is the start of a blame game,” one official said of Trump’s abrupt change of heart. “The US knew that the China and India tariffs would be impossible” for the EU to accept.

Trump “is building the off ramp” so he can blame Europe when and if he needs to, a European government aide said. The shift was “spectacular” and “generally good”, but Trump was “setting a very high bar,” a German official noted.

“Trump wants to avoid that, after nine months in power, this war becomes his war too” and no longer just “Biden’s war” said Carlo Masala, international affairs professor at Bundeswehr University Munich.

One European official pointed to the Trump’s “Good luck to all!” sign-off on his Truth Social post as tantamount to a handover note.

Another European official said: “Everyone sees he is disengaging.”

After a bilateral meeting with Trump in New York on Tuesday, French President Emmanuel Macron put a more positive gloss on the US president’s statement, describing it as “very correct”.

“If we back Ukraine completely in this situation, the Russian economy is suffering, so there is an opportunity for a good future,” Macron added.

But EU leaders have concluded that Trump is no longer a reliable ally, officials said.

Trump’s tone on the conflict has shifted since he returned to the White House in January. Having clashed with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Oval Office in February, he has since softened his approach to Kyiv. On Tuesday, he hailed the Ukrainian leader as a “brave man”. 

The US president has also grown frustrated with his inability to end the war and with Vladimir Putin, telling the Russian president he must participate in peace talks or face consequences.

But Trump has yet to impose any direct costs on Moscow and has continued periodically to blame Zelenskyy for the conflict.

Since his Alaska summit with Putin, Trump has also increased the pressure on European countries to take responsibility for ending the conflict.

In recent weeks the US president has focused on Russian energy exports to Europe. Though they have fallen steeply since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Hungary and Slovakia continue to import Russian oil, while France, Spain, Belgium and the Netherlands buy Russian liquefied natural gas.

Trump said in his address to the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday that he was willing to impose “powerful tariffs” that could “stop the bloodshed” in Ukraine — but only if countries in Europe were willing to impose the same measures. 

“They’re buying oil and gas from Russia while they’re fighting Russia,” Trump said. “It’s embarrassing.” 

He did not provide details on what those measures would be. But earlier this month, he called on the EU to impose tariffs of up to 100 per cent on India and China — Russia’s biggest energy customers — a request seen as a non-starter in Brussels. 

European officials struggled to believe that Trump would follow through if they were to impose steep tariffs on Beijing and New Delhi, said Liana Fix, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. 

“They don’t believe that Trump will follow suit,” Fix said. “He’s not reliable on that.” 

The White House did respond to a request for comment.

Additional reporting by Leila Abboud in Paris