Last Friday, Ukraine’s President Zelenskyy sat in the Oval Office with Donald Trump, JD Vance and Marco Rubio. Zelenskyy, who has survived multiple assassination attempts and has kept his country together through three years of Russia’s deadly invasion and warfare, had to listen as Vance and Trump disparaged him and his country. Trump and Vance childishly berated him using Vladimir Putin’s talking points and it was one of the most grotesque spectacles in modern history. It was completely humiliating for all Americans, that Trump and Vance behaved that way and spoke the way they did to a man who was supposed to be our ally.

What happened next was a panic from Europe, from NATO and from all of America’s allies. European leaders reacted instantly to show their complete support for Ukraine and Zelenskyy, and there were several huge setpieces thrown together quickly. Zelenskyy was immediately invited to England, and Prime Minister Keir Starmer met with him at Downing Street less than 24 hours after the repulsive scenes in the White House. Starmer also quickly arranged for a photo-op between Zelenskyy and King Charles – Zelenskyy was invited to Sandringham, and he met one-on-one with King Charles for several hours at Charles’s private home. This was a complete diplomatic masterclass by Starmer and Charles, honestly. It helps that Charles has already shown significant support for Zelenskyy personally and Ukraine broadly – there’s a lot of history there.

Not only did Starmer get Zelenskyy the Downing Street and Sandringham photocalls, he also brought more than a dozen world leaders together over the weekend in England to show their unwavering support for Ukraine. Among them: Nato secretary general Mark Rutte, Netherlands’ Prime Minister Dick Schoof, Sweden’s Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, Germany’s Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Norway’s Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store, Czech Republic’s Prime Minister Petr Fiala, Turkey’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Hakan Fidan, Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, European Council President Antonio Costa, Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Romania’s Interim President Ilie Bolojan, Finland’s President Alexander Stubb, France’s President Emmanuel Macron and Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk. This is officially the end of the US’s influence in Europe, if not the symbolic end to a century’s worth of NATO alliances.

Photos courtesy of Cover Images.