The leaders of 13 countries are in Kyiv today to reaffirm their support for Ukraine, on the third anniversary of Russia’s military invasion, while the dramatic change of stance by the US government changes the stakes in this war.

“We have an important meeting tomorrow, a summit. Maybe it will be a turning point,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said yesterday, referring to this summit, which is expected to be attended by 24 other foreign leaders via video link.

EU leaders arrived in Kyiv today to express their support for Ukraine on the third anniversary of the Russian invasion of the country.

“We are in Kyiv today because Ukraine is Europe. In this battle for survival, not only the fate of Ukraine is at stake. The fate of Europe is at stake,” said European Commission President Hursula von der Leyen in a message she posted on social media, which she accompanied with a video showing her arrival by rail in Kyiv alongside European Council President Anthony Costa.

On the flight to Washington, Macron reiterated that the and France’s European partners are “committed” to peace being restored in a “just, solid and lasting” way, and that the security of Europeans will be “strengthened” if there are negotiations for it and they are successful.

In the face of the Russian threat and the change in the US stance, Europeans are trying to mobilize. Costa announced an extraordinary summit on March 6, as “we are living in a decisive moment for Ukraine and European security.”

Christian Democratic Party (CDU) leader Friedrich Murz, the winner of yesterday’s early parliamentary elections in Germany who is expected to become chancellor soon, called it an “absolute priority” to have “the possibility of an autonomous European defence”, an alternative “to NATO in its current form”.

US President Donald Trump, after stating that Ukraine was responsible for the war that broke out on February 24, 2022, and began talks with Russia without Ukrainian or European involvement, insisted that he wants the US to be compensated in kind – with Ukrainian minerals, especially rare earth – for the military and financial aid it has since provided to Kyiv.

His counterpart Zelensky has ruled out signing a document that would force “ten generations of Ukrainians” to pay.

President Trump also called Zelensky a “dictator”, as he has not organised “elections”. The latter was elected in 2019 for five years but remains in power as it is impossible to organise elections in the middle of a war. The Ukrainian president said yesterday that he did not feel “offended” by these statements.

Washington has also said it is preparing a summit between Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin and does not consider Ukraine’s NATO membership realistic.

The reversal of the U.S. stance, after three years of uninterrupted military and economic support for Ukraine, has left many in Ukraine stunned and furious, as they fear their country will be forced to accept territorial concessions in exchange for a ceasefire.

If Ukrainian President Zelensky were to accept to cede to Russia the regions he has occupied, “the lads who are now fighting for our territory (…) will not listen to Zelensky and we will keep pushing,” warns Oleksandr, an assault unit officer of the Ukrainian army’s 93rd separate mechanized brigade.

Many of his men have already lost “homes, families, children” and no longer have “nothing to lose,” he adds.

Yesterday there were demonstrations in support of Ukraine in Paris, Prague, and Vilnius, in front of the Russian embassy in Washington and other American cities. More rallies are planned today, especially in London.

On the other hand, Moscow has made no secret of its satisfaction with Donald Trump’s decision to break the isolation imposed by the West on Vladimir Putin by starting bilateral talks.

The Kremlin said a new meeting of Russian and US diplomats is planned for later this week, following those held on February 18 in Saudi Arabia with delegations from the two countries led by Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Marco Rubio.

Taking an initiative with heavy symbolism, the Americans proposed to the UN General Assembly a draft resolution that does not refer to Ukraine’s territorial integrity. Even UN Secretary-General Anthony Guterres yesterday called for a “just” peace that precisely respects Ukrainian “territorial integrity.”