Jan. 15, 2026, 8:54 AM EST
European troops were arriving Greenland Thursday in a show of support, as leaders scramble to respond to President Donald Trump’s threats were dealt another American curveball.
Trump continued his goal of “conquering” European territory, Denmark’s top diplomat said after a news conference. high-stakes meeting in Washington on Wednesday.
The president then sided with the man who invaded another, singling out Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy rather than Russia’s Vladimir Putin as an obstacle to peace, in his latest reversal on the conflict already raging on the continent.
Trump’s comments sparked a new backlash from European leaders, whose concern over U.S. actions had for weeks been focused further north.
Nuuk, Greenland, Tuesday.Evgueni Maloletka / APA small number of military personnel from France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden arrived on this Arctic island on Thursday morning.
Hours earlier, Greenland and Denmark’s top diplomats walked out of talks with Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, acknowledging a “fundamental disagreement” over the future of the semi-autonomous Danish territory.
Trump has doubled down on demands that the United States take control of Greenland on national security grounds, citing what he claims is. an ever-increasing threat from China and Russia.
Denmark said Wednesday it was expanding its “military presence in and around Greenland” in close cooperation with NATO allies, a signal of European unity as the continent’s powers try to convince Trump that a U.S. takeover is not necessary to protect the Arctic.
The Russian embassy in Belgium, where NATO headquarters is located, said Thursday that the alliance was “strengthening its military presence there under the false pretext of a growing threat from Moscow and Beijing.”
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova warned that any attempts to ignore Russia’s interests in the region “will not go unanswered and will have far-reaching consequences.”
The Danish Navy patrol vessel HDMS Ejnar Mikkelsen docked in Nuuk, Greenland in November 2025.Juliette Pavy/Bloomberg via Getty ImagesDenmark and other NATO allies have said the US approach to Greenland threatens the very existence of the military alliance, already undermined by the Kremlin’s expansionist ambitions in the east.
European capitals were surprised and dismayed by Trump’s proposed peace deal to end the nearly four-year-old war in Ukraine, the continent’s largest land conflict since World War II.
kyiv and its allies worked closely with the United States for months, revising the proposal and securing security guarantees long sought by Washington.
US military action in Venezuela and the unrest in Iran attracted Ukraine’s attention, although the next step was expected to be to present the plan to Moscow, with the ball firmly in Russia’s court.
But on Wednesday, Trump flipped the script once again.
It is not Putin but Zelensky, he said, who constitutes the obstacle to a peace agreement.
Trump told the Reuters news agency that the Kremlin was ready to make a deal, while kyiv was more hesitant. When asked why US-led negotiations had not yet resolved the war, Trump replied: “Zelensky.”
The Ukrainian president said Wednesday evening that he was as “productive as possible” in the negotiations, but that he expected more “energy” from the United States.
It was Russia that rejected the US peace plan, not Zelensky, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said. Russia’s only response was “further missile attacks on Ukrainian cities,” Tusk said Thursday, referring to a wave of attacks that have crippled Ukraine’s power grid, leaving millions in the dark.
The Kremlin, on the other hand, agreed with Trump’s assessment that Zelensky was at fault. “This is indeed the case,” said spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
Zelensky has been working with US envoys for months to adjust the peace proposal.Clémens Bilan / Getty ImagesThe unpredictability of Trump’s stance on Ukraine, coupled with his growing threats against Greenland, leaves Europe in a perpetual frenzy to concoct a response, said Christoph Meyer, professor of European and international politics at King’s College London.
The multiple competing crises and the scale of the challenges facing European leaders are “daunting,” Meyer told NBC News.
The head of European foreign policy appears to agree.
The state of the world means it might be a “good time” to start drinking, Kaja Kallas privately told lawmakers, Politico reported, citing two people in the room. Kallas’ office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from NBC News.
But it is clear that a policy of “playing light” with Trump is not working for Europe, Meyer said.
“What the Europeans are trying to do now is sort of respond, but in a way that doesn’t antagonize the administration too publicly, but still sends a pretty clear message that there are going to be very significant costs if they continue down this path,” he added.
Yuliya Talmazan is a journalist for NBC News Digital, based in London.
