Europe will not back any forced peace deal that legitimizes Russia’s seized Ukrainian territory, according to Lithuania’s former top diplomat Gabrielius Landsbergis.
That warning lands as transatlantic tensions over defense spending and American reliability reshape Europe’s security calculations. European governments increasingly treat Ukraine’s fate as inseparable from their own.
Landsbergis welcomed signals that EU leaders would reject any agreement imposed on Kyiv under US pressure. He argued such a stance sends Moscow a clear message: even a Washington-Moscow bargain would not automatically secure European endorsement.
Meanwhile, the pause in American military assistance has not weakened European resolve. Countries across the continent continue hunting for ways to sustain and expand support for Ukraine.
The bigger struggle, according to Landsbergis, concerns Europe’s own defense posture. He sees only fragmented national steps rather than a coordinated continental strategy. Funding approaches diverge sharply.
Spain, for example, barely debates exceeding NATO’s 2 percent GDP target. Northern European nations, the Baltics, and Poland talk far more urgently about bolstering their own capabilities. Some even weigh how to defend against Russian threats without American backing.
That conversation remains extraordinarily painful. For decades, northern and eastern European defense planning assumed US troops and commitments would anchor their security. The prospect of Washington declining to help during an attack leaves many experts and officials without answers.
Landsbergis noted another obstacle. Several governments fear that openly discussing reduced American involvement might accelerate exactly that scenario. So the topic stays largely unspoken in official circles.
Despite that reluctance, he insisted Europe must prepare for a shifting security landscape. He suggested Russia may already be drafting contingency plans for a weakened US role on the continent.
European states now find themselves rejecting territorial recognition for Russia while simultaneously searching for their own answers to a possible American retreat.
