German Chancellor Olaf Scholz seized on Joe Biden’s final visit to Europe last week to organise a conclave of key leaders on Ukraine. President Macron, Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Scholz met with the US President in Berlin to hammer out a durable plan of support for Kyiv, meaning one that could survive the increasingly likely return of Donald Trump. Would this be the moment Western leaders might grasp the nettle and make long-term political and military commitments to the defence of Ukraine? Would they finally unleash long range weapons against Russian targets? Agree on long-term defence financing that would allow European arms makers to ramp up production? Or perhaps even push for prompt NATO membership for Ukraine? Alas for fans of decisive action, these Western whales begat a sprat: a new loan wrapped in a vaporous statement pledging unwavering support for Kyiv.
Where was Polish PM Donald Tusk? The former President of the European Council rescued his country from the EU’s naughty step, yet somehow remained uninvited to Berlin, reportedly at the insistence of the German Chancellor. Poland is a front-line state in this conflict, hosts millions of Ukrainian refugees, serves as the major transhipment point for Western weapons, and owns the only land army in the EU that frightens the Kremlin. Tusk’s absence was at best puzzling and at worst counterproductive: Western assistance to Ukraine must literally go through Poland.