Trump and Zelenskyy Agree on Something: Europe Needs to Do More

By Robert Harris

Friday 29 May 2026

From the perspective of conventional wisdom, the words “Donald Trump and Volodomyr Zelenskyy agree” would seem to be so antithetical to reality that whatever follows must be from an alternate reality; or, at the very least, a Joe Rogan podcast – though the difference between those last two might be academic. Yet this morning’s drone strike on NATO-and-EU-member Romania – a strike which, unlike previous drone incursions into Poland and the Baltics, struck a residential site and caused civilian casualties – and NATO’s thus far utterly predictable (and toothless) response of verbal condemnations and nothing else, provides the perfect opportunity to discuss the one thing Volodomyr Zelensky and Donald Trump seem to both agree on (and if this writer may say so, to both be right about), which is this.

The time has long since come for NATO’s European Members to get off of their laurels and actually do something.

For decades, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization has been, whether its members admit it or not, the cornerstone of the international order; the “leviathan” that makes UN Mandates and international laws actually (sometimes) function by having the power and (sometimes) the will to (sometimes) enforce them. Comprised of most of the largest and most powerful economies in Europe and North America, the bloc has been the final word in global power. It has been able to do this because in terms of manpower, combined GDP, military technology, and combined industrial capacity, the alliance is not only the most powerful bloc on Earth but in fact, the most powerful in all of Human history.

Statistically, at least.

However, an alliance only functions if its individual members actually have the will to act, and neither Donald Trump nor Volodomyr Zelensky is making any secret any longer of their outrage over the increasingly evident fact that NATO (especially the European side of it) doesn’t. Zelensky, nearly halfway through his fifth consecutive year of enduring full-scale invasion by Russia, and Trump, facing a more stubborn and resilient enemy than he expected in the form of Russian ally Iran, have both sought military support from NATO, and both have received little more for their trouble than a European-accented, “well… I don’t know,” coupled with much hand-wringing and little else.

Now, of course, there are predictable responses. In Ukraine’s case, the rebuttal is “but Ukraine is not a NATO member, nor an EU member,” and in the US’s case the response is “we are a defensive alliance and the war against Iran was not defensive.” Of course, even a freshman student in a remedial class on geopolitics can see how thin both of these excuses are. Defending Ukraine, which is the only thing between NATO and Russia and which would be filled with Russian military units who have already spent decades being psychologically groomed for an invasion of Europe in the event of its fall, is undoubtedly in NATO’s interests.

Further, cowering in fear of Russia and hiding behind such technicalities when the Russian Federation’s principle excuse for the war was “to prevent Ukraine from joining (or punish them for trying to join) NATO is a massive boon to Putin’s “the West fears the mighty Russian bear” rhetoric and fuels his image of power, and in the social media age, the image of power, is power. One needn’t be strong if one can convince the masses on Facebook that he is strong, since international support more readily follows public perception than reality. As for Iran… well, how quickly the leaders of Europe who are berating the US for its “aggression” viz-a-viz Iran, forget that less than five years ago they themselves were criticizing the United States for NOT putting extra military pressure on Iran, whose leaders flatly and openly declared their intention to target Europe nearly every time a microphone was anywhere near them.

These excuses are followed, invariably, by much chest-thumping about how Europe is “already doing its part.”

When Ukraine objects to European inaction, most Europeans are quick to point out that in 2025, the EU has been the only major donor to Ukraine (after what I must admit was the US’s utterly disgraceful decision to cut funding altogether). What is not mentioned is 1) that during the same timeframe, European payments to Russia’s war effort in the form of energy purchases have dwarfed the continent’s funding for Ukraine, 2) that if one adds up the years from 2014 until the present the United States is till by far the largest contributor of aid, and 3) most of Europe’s aid has been humanitarian aid rather than military aid. If the writer (a combat veteran) may be pardoned a personal aside, in time of war, military aid is what plugs the leak. Humanitarian aid only mops the wet floor.

When the US makes the same complaints about European inaction, most of NATO’s European members will indignantly retort that the US is the only NATO member to ever invoke Article 5 (after 9/11). The fact that the entire alliance combined contributed 1 soldier for every 13 the US sent and about a dime for every dollar we spent in that instance (despite having had 120% of our population and 130% of our GDP at the time), gets overlooked. When that is pointed out, the response is usually, “well, it wasn’t our war,” to which America responds “then you just admitted Article 5 means nothing to you so why should it mean anything to us?”

And so, round and round the finger-pointing goes, but the end result is always the same. The United States, disgusted with continuous European inaction, refuses to support Europe (which, tragically, includes Ukraine, in the current Administration’s eyes, despite the fact that Ukraine sent more troops per capita to aid us after 9/11 than most NATO members did), and Europe, whose inherent disdain for warfare seems quaint from a group of countries that spent 400 of the last 500 years grinding the world under their imperial heels through force of arms, refuses to support anyone else with anything more than words.

When Russian tanks were within half an hour of Kyiv, Europe’s response was “we are deeply concerned, and we condemn this.”

When Iran gave Russia production rights to the Shahed suicide drone, a weapon that has become the principle killer of civilians in Russia’s ongoing war, Europe’s response was “we are deeply concerned, and we condemn this.”

When Russia repaid Iran for this by helping them fortify their nucear facilities, when North Korean troops were sent to support Russia’s invasion, when Russian terrorist atatcks caused fires in European shopping malls, when Iranian missiles and drones struck European flagged vessels in the Persian Gulf, when Russian drones breached Poland’s airspace, then Estonia’s, then Lithuania’s, then Latvia’s, and now Romania’s, Europe’s response was “we are deeply concerned, and we condemn this.”

It’s a bit ironic, and would be more than a bit laughable if it weren’t costing so many lives, but the plain truth is this. The alliance between Russia and Iran, for all the disreputable traits of both those two governments, is actually functioning as an alliance, while the alliance between the US and Europe is not. Donald Trump and Volodomyr Zelensky are fighting the same war (against closely allied Chinese-backed Petro-states seeking to upend the existing international system using gray-zone terrorist tactics and cheaply made kamikaze drones against civilians), and are struggling with the same problem (the reticence of European allies who are loathe to get their hands dirty or break a nail). Does Volodomyr Zelensky see that? Based on his proposal of “we’ll provide the drones you need, Mister President, and you provide us the AA defenses we need,” all indications are “yes.” Does Donald Trump see that? …Well, that’s a different story, but I digress.

The bottom line is that while the US does indeed need to quit being so tunnel-visioned about the Iran front and resume its support for Ukraine as it stands apparently alone on the Russian front (a fact which the White House does appear to be slowly waking up to), Europe, sitting within Intermediate-Range-Missile striking range from both Russia and Iran, has got to get off the sidelines and quit cheerleading. Diplomatic statements, condemnations, “awareness campaigns,” support rallies, flags on facebook profiles, supportive hashtags… have any of these ever stopped a single drone? Both fronts – Iran and Russia – are very much Europe’s war. Europe has more to lose than anyone else if either front falters (need I remind the reader yet again in the space of one article, that on the day this article was written, the same Russian drones that have already breached the airpsace of five NATO members struck a civilian home in Romania, and there has not even been a whiff in the wind of any talk of consequences for it?), and subduing Europe is the rather openly stated final goal of both Russia and Iran. And yet Europe’s response to Russia has been to pout and insist it’s not fair that they have to do anything when they feel the US should, and in Iran’s case many of Europe’s leaders have given public statements (which amount to the only support they seem capable of) in support of Iran.

And then they wonder why the Ukrainian families pulling their children from the rubble of homes destroyed by Iranian-made drones, paid for by European energy purchases from Russia, aren’t more grateful.

I freely grant that the United States is not doing enough.

But Europe?

Europe seems to be doing, at best nothing at all, and at worst, actively funding Russia and cheering for Iran.

And the latest of Europe’s chickens came home to roost this morning in Galati, Romania. How long does the reader suppose it will be before Russian Shaheds launched from Belarus are raining down on Berlin, Prague, Paris and Amsterdam, supported by Iranian-funded terrorist operations on the ground? Given the current state of Europe’s civil defense I don’t relish that thought. Oh, but don’t worry. Because when (I dare not say “if” at this point) that happens, well…

…I’m sure both the US and Ukraine will be deeply concerned, and condemn the actions strongly.

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Robert Harris is a teacher in Lviv and the author of Smells like BULL-Shevik to ME! – A Conservative Talks to Conservatives About Russian Lies.