Europeans' subtle message

Europeans' subtle message to Trump: Supporting peace means supporting Ukraine

From CNN's Adam Cancryn

As European leaders showered praise on US President Donald Trump for seeking an end to the war, they also all sought to advance a more delicate argument that Trump has resisted at times in the past: Supporting peace means first supporting Ukraine.

“If we want to reach peace and if we want to guarantee justice, we have to do it united,” Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni told Trump. “We are on the side of Ukraine.”

“It’s team Europe and team United States helping Ukraine,” Finnish President Alexander Stubb added shortly afterward.

The subtle push came as European allies sought to re-establish Trump’s full support for Ukraine in the war against Russia, especially following a summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin that the US leader touted as “very warm.”

Trump in the past has also suggested that Ukraine may need to make significant concessions to secure peace, deepening concerns among Ukraine and the Europeans that he might grow impatient with the sluggish pace of negotiations and push for a peace deal that the rest of the alliance doesn’t support.

But as he prepared to talk over the finer points of a potential agreement, Trump at least for now appeared mostly aligned with Ukraine and the leaders in front of him.

“I just look forward to working and having a great result,” he said. “We’re really honored you guys came over.”