Trump turns on “decaying” Europe and “weak” leaders

US President Donald Trump has described several European countries as “decaying” and their leaders as “weak”, while suggesting the United States could reduce its support for Ukraine.

In an interview with Politico, he argued that European governments had failed to manage migration effectively or take decisive steps to help end the war in Ukraine. He accused European states of allowing Ukraine to “fight until they drop”.

European leaders have been attempting to assert their role in efforts to negotiate an end to the conflict, amid concerns that a swift US-brokered resolution could undermine Europe’s long-term security interests.

UK Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper responded by saying she saw “strength” across Europe, highlighting increased defence investment and continued financial support for Kyiv. She said two presidents – Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky – were working towards peace, while Russian President Vladimir Putin was escalating the conflict through further drone and missile attacks.

Trump has increased pressure on President Zelensky to accept a peace deal that would involve ceding territory to Russia. Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Writing on X on Tuesday, Zelensky said Ukraine and Europe were actively working on “all components of potential steps toward ending the war”, adding that the Ukrainian and European elements of the plan were now more advanced. He told reporters he expected the proposals to be submitted to the United States on Wednesday.

Trump’s remarks came a day after European leaders met in London to discuss their joint efforts to halt the fighting. Asked whether Europe could help bring the war to an end, Trump replied: “They talk but they don’t produce. And the war just keeps going on and on.”

US officials have held separate talks with both Ukrainian and Russian representatives in recent weeks in an attempt to broker a settlement, but no agreement has been reached. Zelensky has urged European and NATO leaders to help prevent the US from supporting a deal that Kyiv believes could leave the country vulnerable to future attacks.

On Sunday, Trump suggested – without providing evidence – that Zelensky was the main obstacle to peace. He claimed Russia was “fine” with the US-outlined peace plan, which reportedly includes significant concessions from Ukraine. He also alleged that Ukrainian negotiators “loved” the proposal and claimed Zelensky had not yet read it.

Trump reiterated calls for Ukraine to hold elections, saying the country was using the war as justification to avoid doing so. Ukraine’s presidential election, originally due in May 2024, has been suspended under martial law since the invasion.

Responding to Trump’s comments, Zelensky said he was “ready for the elections” and would request proposals to amend relevant legislation. Elections could take place within 60 to 90 days if security was guaranteed with assistance from the US and other allies, he said.

In the Politico interview, Trump also suggested that ideological divisions threatened Washington’s alliances with Europe. Asked whether leaders he considered weak could remain allies, he said: “It depends,” adding that many preferred to remain “politically correct” and “don’t know what to do”.

His comments followed the release of his administration’s new 33-page National Security Strategy, which warned of potential “civilisational erasure” in parts of Europe and questioned the reliability of some allies. Russia welcomed the document, saying it was broadly in line with Moscow’s own strategic thinking.

Trump warned that many European countries could “not be viable countries any longer” if they continued on their current path, accusing them of mismanaging immigration. He praised Hungary and Poland for their approach, but said most European states were “decaying”.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz responded on Tuesday by saying that while some elements of the US strategy were “plausible” or “understandable”, others were unacceptable from a European perspective. He rejected the idea that the US needed to “save democracy” in Europe, insisting Europeans were capable of addressing such issues themselves.

The document echoed themes from Trump’s speech to the UN earlier this year, in which he criticised Western Europe’s approach to migration and clean energy.