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Earlier today, a self-styled Coalition of the Willing, largely consisting of EU heads of state, met in the French capital with envoys of the Trump administration, aiming to make additional progress on a sustainable peace agreement for the embattled nation.

With Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky insisting that a plan to end the hostilities with Russia is "90% of the way there", nobody in that gathering desired to endanger maintaining the US involved.

Yet, there was an enormous glaring omission in that grand and sparkling Paris meeting, and the underlying atmosphere was profoundly uneasy.

Bear in mind the events of the last few days: the Trump administration's divisive incursion in the South American nation and the President Trump's assertion shortly thereafter, that "we need Greenland from the viewpoint of defense".

The vast Arctic territory is the world's greatest island – it's sixfold the area of Germany. It is situated in the Arctic region but is an semi-independent region of Copenhagen.

At the Paris meeting, Mette Frederiksen, Copenhagen's leader, was seated facing two powerful figures acting for Trump: special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump's relative Jared Kushner.

She was subject to urging from European allies not to antagonising the US over the Greenland issue, in case that affects US support for Ukraine.

The continent's officials would have far preferred to keep Greenland and the negotiations on the war separate. But with the tensions rising from the White House and Copenhagen, representatives of big EU countries at the Paris meeting released a communiqué saying: "This territory is part of the alliance. Defense in the North must therefore be achieved collectively, in partnership with NATO allies like the United States".

"The decision is for Copenhagen and the Greenlandic authorities, and them only, to decide on matters regarding the kingdom and Greenland," the communiqué continued.

The communique was greeted by Greenland's prime minister, Jens Frederik Nielsen, but analysts say it was slow to be put together and, due to the limited set of endorsers to the statement, it was unable to project a European Union aligned in intent.

"Were there a joint declaration from all 27 EU partners, along with alliance partner the UK, in support of Copenhagen's control, that would have delivered a strong warning to Washington," commented a European defense expert.

Reflect on the contradiction at work at the Paris summit. Numerous EU government and other officials, including NATO and the European Union, are trying to engage the White House in safeguarding the future autonomy of a European country (Ukraine) against the expansionist land claims of an external actor (Moscow), on the heels of the US has swooped into sovereign Venezuela with force, arresting its head of state, while also still publicly threatening the territorial integrity of a further continental ally (the Kingdom of Denmark).

To compound the situation – Copenhagen and the US are both members of the defensive pact the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. They are, as stated by Copenhagen, profoundly strong partners. Or were.

The issue is, should Trump fulfill his ambition to acquire Greenland, would it mark not just an fundamental challenge to NATO but also a significant problem for the EU?

Europe Risks Being Overlooked

This is not an isolated incident Trump has spoken of his intention to control the Arctic island. He's floated the idea of acquiring it in the past. He's also refused to rule out a military seizure.

He insisted that the landmass is "crucially located right now, Greenland is patrolled by Russian and Chinese vessels all over the place. We need Greenland from the vantage point of defense and Copenhagen is incapable to do it".

Copenhagen strongly denies that assertion. It not long ago vowed to invest $4bn in Arctic security including boats, drones and aircraft.

Pursuant to a mutual pact, the US maintains a strategic outpost already on the island – founded at the beginning of the Cold War. It has reduced the figure of staff there from about 10,000 during the height of the confrontation to approximately 200 and the US has frequently been criticized of neglecting polar defense, recently.

Denmark has signaled it is willing to talk about a expanded US footprint on the island and further cooperation but confronted by the US President's assertion of unilateral action, Frederiksen said on Monday that Trump's ambition to acquire Greenland should be considered a real possibility.

In the wake of the American intervention in Venezuela this weekend, her colleges in Europe are taking it seriously.

"These developments has just highlighted – once again – Europe's core shortcoming {