Photograph: Efrem Lukatsky/AP
Ukraine’s allies were not told in advance of Donald Trump’s decision to pause military aid, Poland’s foreign ministry has said, as rattled European politicians reaffirmed their backing for Kyiv faced with dramatic further evidence of a US policy shift.
The US president’s announcement “was made without any information or consultation, neither with Nato allies nor with the Ramstein group which is involved in supporting Ukraine,” the ministry spokesperson Paweł Wroński said on Tuesday.
Poland’s prime minister, Donald Tusk, told a cabinet meeting in Warsaw that Europe faced unprecedented risks, including “the biggest in the last few decades when it comes to security”.
Tusk said his government would have to make some “extraordinary” decisions. “A decision was announced to suspend the US aid for Ukraine, and perhaps start lifting sanctions on Russia. We don’t have any reason to think these are just words,” he said.
“This puts Europe, Ukraine, Poland in a more difficult situation,” he said, adding that Warsaw was determined to “intensify activities in Europe to increase our defence capabilities” while maintaining the best possible relations with the US.
The French prime minister, François Bayrou, said the US decision to freeze weapons aid to Ukraine while it was at war signalled that Washington was “abandoning the country under attack, and accepting – or desiring – that the aggressor wins”. It was Europe’s responsibility to replace that aid, he said.
Bayrou told parliament that Europeans “are going to have to think about our model, about our priorities and to look at the world differently … We have seen it is more dangerous than we had though, coming from those we thought were allies”.
France’s foreign minister, Jean-Noel Barrot, said the US decision meant it was now vital that Europe help Ukraine hold the frontline against Russia, which he said was “the first line of defence for Europe and France”.
The time had come for Europe to drop it’s dependency on US weapons, he added. “We are faced with a choice that is imposed on us, between effort and freedom, or comfort and servitude,” he told MPs.
Germany’s foreign minister, Annalena Baerbock, said: “Two things are now essential for peace through strength: additional aid - military and financial - for Ukraine, which is defending our freedom. And a quantum leap to strengthen our EU defence.”
The European Commission insisted that the US remained “an ally”, saying that it was “not up to us to comment on decisions or announcements that are made on the other side of the Atlantic”.
Deputy chief spokesman Stefan de Keersmaecker told reporters: “We know that it’s important to support Ukraine also in its defence – also to make sure that it’s in a better negotiating place.”
EU leaders are scheduled to meet on Thursday to discuss a five-part, €800bn (£660bn) plan presented by the European commission to bolster Europe’s defence industry, increase military capability and help provide urgent military support for Ukraine.
A spokesperson for the UK prime minister, Keir Starmer, who hosted a crisis meeting of European and other leaders on Sunday, said London was “absolutely committed to securing a lasting peace in Ukraine” and was engaging with key allies. The spokesperson said the prime minister had spoken to Trump twice over the weekend and again on Monday night.
The spokesperson said the UK had already committed to provide Ukraine with £3bn a year in military aid for as long as it took and was providing a £2.26bn loan using sanctioned Russian assets.
The Czech Republic’s prime minister, Petr Fiala, called for a fundamental shift in European policy, saying Trump’s decision meant “we must strengthen our economic and military capabilities and take full responsibility for our own security”.
Europe would have to increase significantly defence investment, he said, adding that “ensuring our security also means intensifying our support for Ukraine. We cannot allow Russia’s aggressive policy, which threatens us all, to succeed.”
Estonia’s foreign minister, Margus Tsahkna, said Europe must step up assistance to Ukraine to fill the gap left by the US freeze, which followed a public bust-up in the White House between Trump and his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
“Europe must increase military aid to Ukraine to allow Ukraine to continue fighting for a just and lasting peace,” he said, adding that Tallinn had already decided to boost its assistance by 25% this year.
He said one option for obtaining additional resources to help Ukraine was to use Russia’s assets frozen in Europe. “Claims that there are no legal ways to use Russia’s frozen assets are unfounded,” he said.
“The sole perpetrator of the war must feel pressure and the victim of the aggression must have strong support because it is the only way to force Russia to give up its goals and achieve lasting peace in Ukraine.”
Denmark’s defence minster, Troels Lund Poulsen, said Ukraine was “completely dependent” on some US aid, including Patriot missiles. “So this will put Europe in a situation where we now really need to do more ourselves to help Ukraine,” he said.
Only Hungary’s illiberal government struck a discordant note, with a spokesperson for the country’s Moscow-friendly prime minister, Viktor Orbán, saying the US and Hungary shared the same stance. “Instead of continuing weapons shipments and the war, a ceasefire and peace talks are needed as soon as possible,” they said.
