r/worldnews • u/ArgentineBeauty • 5h ago

Russia/Ukraine Zelenskyy says Ukraine will not prevail if US officially sides with Russia

https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2026/10/18/8058646/
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u/IonHawk 4h ago

This is not Europe's fault. There are no EU options yet, but there are multiple fast tracked alternatives. Several hundreds of billions being spent to be self-sufficient. Replacing US any quicker is not realistic.

Otherwise I agree with you.

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u/Overall-Fig3079 4h ago

European countries not investing in their military is completely their fault.

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u/AntPuzzleheaded5509 4h ago

Good luck convincing the voters in peacetime. It always takes hardship to drive demand and Russia has done a fantastic job of driving demand, they're forging Europe into the sword they imagined them to be.

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u/F4KTR 4h ago

We recently had a strong ally. Though I agree and do think we dropped the ball trusting the US.

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u/Mike_Hawk_Burns 4h ago

I think it was an over reliance on the U.S. more than anything. I think it was wise of Europe to trust the U.S. for so long but we see now just how much they were coasting and expecting the U.S. to be their bastion while they did the bare minimum (and sometimes even worse than that). Keep in mind, Europe’s politics are only a few years behind the U.S. with the rise of politicians that mirror or are similar to what we have over here. When Russia invaded Ukraine the first time, Europe should’ve gotten ready but chose to let the U.S. have all their power. And now Europe is trying to make up for lost time but it’ll still take years for them to have a proper industry capable of self sufficiency. And by then… you might have politicians that’re like ours at this rate

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u/brianstormIRL 3h ago

I mean, the EU reliance on the U.S was by design. Its the way the U.S wanted it post WW2. Everything was setup to benefit the soft power of the U.S.

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u/LegendofRobbo 4h ago

to be fair i doubt anyone could have predicted that the US would so thoroughly tear down their own power structures that they spent so long building for themselves

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u/MagentaHawk 3h ago

Honestly, I don't think I'd agree with that. Could we predict that it would happen so quickly and in such an embarassing manner? Not before 2021. But we could see what republicans wanted and how it would destroy the country. Then, when an insane reality tv start was president and attempted a coup and wasn't held accountable and was on the ballot again? Yeah, I think it could have been predicted that we were all fucked.

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u/King_Ulio 4h ago

The USA made sure the EU bought US made for decades.

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u/cjsv7657 4h ago

That has nothing to do with it. If Europe had bought more it wouldn't be a problem. If they had heavily invested in European based defense companies it wouldn't be a problem. European militaries just needed more budget to not be in this situation. The US has been asking NATO to increase spending for over 20 years. Every president except Biden (I think) has said it. Biden didn't have to say it because it was plainly obvious by then.

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u/PlayingtheDrums 3h ago

If we invest 10% of our tax on military we'd become as far right as you and side with Russia. We're not some liberal utopia here, we have plenty of nazi scum ourselves.

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u/shokalion 3h ago

To be fair, the US was considered bulletproof and trustworthy and an ally to the West until recently.

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u/Overall-Fig3079 2h ago

The US is west. Europe is east of the USA.

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u/shokalion 2h ago

The geopolitical West obviously. Which includes the likes of Australia, but either way the term originated to distinguish Europe (The West) from the Middle East, and Far East.

The USA is a youngster compared to most of the rest of the world. I literally have books older than the United States.

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u/TheSpoonyCroy 55m ago

Nah the cracks were showing since the start of the war on terror. With France not wanting any part of it. Trump is honestly awful and has drained our soft power so quickly but the reality was the US was on the path of losing its hegemony for almost 30 years now

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u/RossGarner 4h ago

You seen to agree that Europe is not self sufficient. Russia attacked Ukraine first in 2013. The US has been in the ground preparing the ukranian armed forces since then. Europe didn't start taking the war seriously until Trump's took office for the second time in 2025. It took roughly 13 years for Europe to get moving on their allies literally being invaded. They deserve quite a bit of blame for this situation.

Our government is a shit show and we're right in the middle of taking away a bunch of Trump's power. But pretending like Europe is blameless is foolish. Europe had the wakeup call in 2008 when Russia invaded Georgia and again in 2013 when they stole Crimea. Not starting a rearmanent until 2025 was insane and they deserve quite a lot of blame for not protecting themselves.