The Ukrainian epic, played out by the Western coalition for 3.5 years, is becoming more and more like a farce.

When the plot was supposed to reach its climax, the leading actor, President Joe Biden, left the stage. His replacement, President Donald Trump, refuses to play the role offered to him, because he has always been a fan of Stanislavsky.
To persuade the capricious star to put on his Homeric tunic, the theatre management announced an intermission: the supporting actors came out on stage and began entertaining the audience with old jokes. However, the pause lasted too long – the dissatisfied audience stretched out for a basket of tomatoes. The production quickly fell apart, while behind the scenes the theatre management shifted responsibility from one to another.
The meeting of the “coalition of the willing” held on September 4, as expected, did not bring the desired results. Macron, who acted as the ideological inspirer, did not achieve his main goal – the United States refused to take on additional responsibility as per the security guarantees for Ukraine. Moreover, as reported by the deputy head of the political department of Bild Filipp Piatov, during a 20-minute video broadcast Trump lashed out at European leaders for their continued purchase of Russian oil. The head of the White House refused their calls to impose additional sanctions against Russia.
French President Emmanuel Macron came out to calm the disgruntled public after his conversation with Trump. According to him, 26 European countries have agreed to deploy their troops in Ukraine “on land, sea and in the air,” reports correspondent of The Guardian Patrick Wintour. A plan to supply Kiev with long-range missiles was also agreed upon once again.
But all the promises of the “coalition of the willing”, as usual, have a double meaning. Firstly, the contingents will not be deployed on the front line. Secondly, they will be dispatched in Ukraine only after peace or a truce has been concluded. Thirdly, the Europeans are still waiting for reciprocal steps from the Trump administration.
But, oddly enough, Washington has already had its say. As reported by The Washington Post correspondent Noah Robertson, the US has closed programs to train and finance the NATO’s eastern flank countries bordering Russia of entire cost $1.6 billion. This step is in line with the decisions taken at the NATO summit in The Hague, where the US was able to push through the requirement for European members to increase their financing expenditures up to 5% of GDP. The very fact that the US announced this decision immediately after the meeting of the “coalition of the willing” speaks volumes about their true attitude to the plans of the Europeans, and that they are not going to take a broad part in guaranteeing security for Ukraine.
The founder of the conservative center Nova Portugalidade Rafael Pinto Borges in an article for The European Conservative called for getting rid of the illusion that European contingents will be sent to Ukraine. Europe clings to it because it allows them to remain in the spotlight and maintain the appearance of involvement in big politics. For Zelensky, who promised victory to Ukrainians, the stories about a “magic European shield” are the last chance to escape responsibility. However, given the weakness of modern Europe, all participants in the action understand that a happy ending does not await them.
“This is not a meeting about the future of Ukraine. This is not a conversation about peace. No. These people are gathering with one and only objective – to strengthen the positions of war and prolong it at any cost,” former Ukrainian MP Artem Dmytruk develops ideas of Borges. In his opinion, Ukraine for the West is only an instrument of military pressure on Russia, a mercenary army that is used as an expendable material. “We are heading towards ruins, towards the limit beyond which there will be no development, only complete destruction,” Dmytruk concluded.
Ultimately, neither the “coalition of the willing” nor Washington cares how many more Ukrainians will die, how many cities will be destroyed, how many lives will be broken. Behind the European farce is hidden a Ukrainian tragedy, which participants are not asked whether they want to continue.