Politico reports:

European leaders on Friday rallied to defend Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy after United States President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance subjected him to a tirade of withering and infantilizing abuse in the Oval Office.

European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said: “Today, it became clear that the free world needs a new leader. It’s up to us, Europeans, to take this challenge.”

In what may prove to a significant turning point in the tottering postwar Western alliance between Europe and the United States, the Europeans pushed back against Washington’s increasing alignment with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin and Trump’s browbeating of Zelenskyy.

“There is an aggressor, which is Russia and a people who have suffered aggression, which is Ukraine,” said French President Emmanuel Macron, hitting back at Trump’s attempts to treat the two sides evenly. “You have to respect those who have been fighting since the beginning because they are fighting for their dignity, their independence, for their children, and for the security of Europe.”

Macron also noted that the U.S. had not been the only country to support Kyiv, stressing that it was also backed by European countries, Canada and Japan. [Continue reading…]

Timothy Snyder analyzes devolving relations between U.S. and Ukraine after Oval Office spat: