Just two months after demanding that Europe makes its next steps without using America as a crutch, Friedrich Merz has realised the continent cannot do without Donald Trump’s support—especially when it comes to Ukraine.

The new German chancellor said at a news conference with Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday that “we cannot end this war in Ukraine without a continued involvement of the United States of America.”

This is not something that Europeans can substitute for.

The French president no doubt accepts the truth of this comment, having spent months trying—and largely failing—to organise a European ‘peacekeeping’ force for Ukraine, which he and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer stress would depend on a U.S. backstop.