Will Europe guarantee Ukraine’s security?

With their meeting about Ukraine last week at the White House largely a bust, European leaders are now at a critical juncture. Will they deploy troops to Ukraine to contain Russia? This is a necessary safeguard, experts tell FP columnist Anchal Vohra, yet it’s unclear that there is the domestic political will for such a venture. As one former French ambassador put it, “Europeans don’t want to die for Ukraine.” 

There is also the matter of a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine, which remains very much outstanding. Speaking to FP’s Keith Johnson, former U.S. Ambassador to NATO Julianne Smith outlines a sliver of a potential path forward: “If President [Volodymyr] Zelensky determines that he wants to let NATO membership go, and that he is willing to let Crimea go, I think the Europeans will accept it,” she said. 

The eastern Ukrainian territories known as the Donbas are trickier. Though Russian President Vladimir Putin covets the symbolic and strategically vital region, it would take years for him to conquer Ukraine’s so-called fortress belt.

As many questions on the war and its resolution remain unanswered, European Union defense ministers are gathering in Copenhagen this week to see if they can produce formal commitments to their beleaguered ally. The agenda also includes taking stock of a recent white paper on Europe’s defense readiness. 

Russia’s stunning losses in Ukraine mean that there has rarely been a safer window for the transition of European security from U.S. to European hands, FP columnist Emma Ashford argues. In an exclusive excerpt from her new book, First Among Equals, Ashford outlines the realist case for a total withdrawal of U.S. troops from Europe, as well as a concrete road map for European leaders for what happens next. Sounds as if it should be required reading for everyone attending dinner at Copenhagen’s Frederiksberg Palace this week.—Amelia Lester, deputy editor

In observance of Labor Day, FP This Week will be off next Monday. We’ll be back in your inbox on Sept. 8! 

On Our Radar

South Korean president in Washington. On Monday, South Korean President Lee Jae-myung meets with U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House. The United States and South Korea struck a trade deal in July that was seen as a win for Seoul. Lee will now be bracing for a security discussion—about the number, purpose, and cost of maintaining U.S. troops on the Korean Peninsula.

AI hype vs. reality. Occasioned in part by the underwhelming release of GPT-5, there are rising fears among U.S. stock watchers that an artificial intelligence bubble may be about to burst. U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell tried to calm nerves at the annual Jackson Hole gathering of central bank governors last Friday, but Bhaskar Chakravorti warns that a self-contradictory mix of U.S. policies could already be stimulating Chinese AI.

Chinese military parade. Tens of thousands of troops have marched in formation through the center of Beijing on recent weekends, practicing for a military parade on Sept. 3 to commemorate the end of World War II in the Pacific. That event may have been 80 years ago, though, as FP’s James Palmer writes, the war’s ending and legacy are still contested in China.

FP Live

The Case for a Pragmatic America

Aug. 27 | 12 p.m. EDT

For decades, U.S. grand strategy has imagined a world with America at its center—a unipolar power responsible for global order. But the rise of other countries, especially China, poses a serious challenge to this idea. How should U.S. policymakers grapple with our new emerging reality? In her new book, First Among Equals, FP columnist and realist scholar Emma Ashford makes the case for a more pragmatic U.S. foreign policy that’s rooted in realism. Ashford will join FP’s Ravi Agrawal to discuss how Washington needs to think about its role in what she calls a “post-unipolar world.” Register now, and submit your questions ahead of the conversation.

Is America Pivoting Away From India?

Sept. 2 | 11 a.m. EDT

The relationship between India and the United States is at its lowest point in decades after the Trump administration announced a total of 50 percent tariffs on Indian products. Is the United States pivoting away from India, or will U.S.-India ties revert back to the trajectory that they were on for the last two decades? Former Indian Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao will join FP Live to discuss what’s at stake. Register now, and submit your questions ahead of the conversation.

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