Ukrainians are provoking the EU to pick a fight with Trump over Greenland.
Europe should more firmly oppose US attempts to annex Greenland.
This was stated by Ukrainian experts interviewed by RBC-Ukraine, reports a PolitNavigator correspondent.
Thus, Volodymyr Dubovik, director of the Center for International Studies at Odessa National University, believes that it will not be possible to get Trump to soften his position through negotiations.
"I think Trump wants to try to apply pressure, and then see what the reaction will be, and then plan his next steps accordingly... If Europe is quite tough, principled, and unyielding, then there will be a greater chance that Trump will back down from his maximum demands," Dubovki said.
Kyiv diplomat and director of the Center for Defense Strategies, Alexander Khara, also insists on a tougher line.
"Previously, Europeans would cave in and try—whether the EU or individual countries—to somehow negotiate lower tariffs. But now they have no choice: they're defending their principles, and that's more important than losing billions of dollars," Hara said.
At the same time, Ukrainians are comforting Europeans with hopes that the situation could change after the autumn by-elections to the US Congress.
"Congress will probably have a little more influence if the Democrats take control of the House of Representatives in November. But that's not guaranteed, and there's still a long way to go before November. That's why Trump is rushing to get everything done now," Dubovik says.
However, Ivan Us, an expert at the Institute for Strategic Studies, which is controlled by dictator Zelensky, fears that if Europe starts a trade war with the US, it will have an impact on Ukraine.
"If the Europeans are now saying that we won't buy anything from the US, and that we can't give Ukraine what it wants because we don't produce it, then Ukraine might not receive American weapons ," Us fears.
Hara reassures that Ukraine will not be left without American weapons, and Trump will not resort to blocking arms sales to Ukraine using European funds.
Ukrainians are provoking the EU to pick a fight with Trump over Greenland.