On the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, President Donald Trump has sparked concern by spreading falsehoods undermining the country, pointing to a major shift in U.S. policy.

Trump, who campaigned on a promise of ending the war as soon as he took office, set off alarm bells in both Kyiv and Europe earlier this month after announcing he held a call with Russian President Vladimir Putin, effectively ending Moscow’s isolation from the West.

Since then, Trump has echoed the Kremlin’s talking points, sidelining Kyiv, a prominent U.S. ally. Trump has called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy a “dictator without elections,” said the country was responsible for provoking the war, and excluded Kyiv and its European allies from U.S.-Russia talks on ending the conflict.

Trump’s moves solidify Europe’s fears that the U.S. no longer has the continent’s back and suggest that he underestimates America’s interest in supporting Ukraine in the war.

Europe Braces For Change

While Trump appeared to take credit for the victory of Germany’s conservative Christian Democratic Union on Sunday evening, the party’s leader Friedrich Merz, who is expected to become the next chancellor, criticized the efforts of Elon Musk, the U.S. president’s billionaire ally, to sway the election in favor of the far-right Alternative for Germany party.

“The interventions from Washington were no less dramatic and drastic and ultimately outrageous than the interventions we have seen from Moscow,” Merz said, according to Politico. “We are under such massive pressure from two sides that my absolute priority now really is to create unity in Europe.”

Merz added that what was previously unthinkable is now the reality that Europe must come to terms with.

“After Donald Trump’s statements last week at the latest, it is clear that the Americans, at least this part of the Americans, this administration, are largely indifferent to the fate of Europe,” Merz said, according to the outlet.

Merz’s statements will undoubtedly loom large on the minds of fellow Europeans French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who are set to meet Trump this week in Washington, hoping to persuade the president against abandoning Kyiv.

Ukraine Is Left To Grapple With Trump’s Pro-Putin Rhetoric

Both Europe and Zelenskyy have had to grapple with the evolution of the U.S. position on the war. While former President Joe Biden had pledged to support Ukraine for “as long as it takes,” Trump has made clear he will not tolerate the continuation of the conflict.

While many share Trump’s desire, Ukraine supporters worry the president’s recent shocking statements indicate he will force the country into an unfavorable deal.

Trump last week took issue with Ukraine’s criticism of the White House’s decision to not invite Kyiv to participate in talks between top U.S. and Russian officials in Saudi Arabia, before claiming that Ukraine was responsible for the war prompted by Russia’s invasion on Feb. 24, 2022.

“Well, you’ve been there for three years. You should’ve ended it in three years,” he said. “You should have never started it. You could have made a deal.”

He also later lashed out at Zelenskyy, calling him a “dictator without elections,” ignoring that the country’s elections were suspended due to the war. Interestingly, Trump had nothing to say about Putin, an authoritarian leader whose country hasn’t had free or fair elections in decades.

Why Trump’s Approach May Be Shortsighted

Trump’s decision to antagonize traditional U.S. allies who have supported the U.S. for years while courting Russia could come back to haunt him, Marc Polymeropoulos, a former CIA senior intelligence service officer, writes.

“It will now be impossible for anyone to trust the U.S. as an ally,” Polymeropoulos writes for MSNBC.

“Is this what Trump wants as his legacy? Does ‘America First’ really mean ‘America the Betrayer’?” Polymeropoulos asked.

Trump’s approach could also diminish America’s influence.

“Some of them may say, ‘We need nuclear weapons of our own,’ or ‘We’re just going to disregard what Washington says,’ because Washington now has become so unpredictable and self-interested,” Richard Haass, the president emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations and director of policy planning under former President George W. Bush, told NPR of U.S. allies.

“We’re moving towards a much less American-centric world,” he added.

Even if some may argue Trump’s apparent effort to inch closer to Putin is a calculated move to break up the Kremlin’s alliance with China — a U.S. adversary that the Trump administration appears to be more concerned about — it’s unclear if Putin would be ready to abandon the partnership that has helped sustain his war effort.

“The idea that Putin can be manipulated as some kind of weapon against China, I think that’s naïve on the part of the Trump administration,” Sergey Radchenko, a professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, told The New York Times.

Trump, though, appears indifferent to that risk, and seems prepared to abandon ideals the U.S. has promoted on the world stage, all in favor of fast-tracking an agreement between Russia and Ukraine.