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This very day, a informal Alliance of the Willing, predominantly made up of EU leaders, convened in Paris with representatives of the Trump administration, hoping to secure additional progress on a durable peace agreement for the embattled nation.

With President Volodymyr Zelensky declaring that a plan to conclude the conflict with Russia is "largely complete", not a single person in that room wished to jeopardise retaining the Washington onboard.

Yet, there was an enormous glaring omission in that opulent and glittering Paris meeting, and the prevailing atmosphere was profoundly uneasy.

Recall the actions of the past week: the US administration's divisive intervention in Venezuela and the US president's declaration soon after, that "it is essential to have Greenland from the perspective of strategic interests".

The vast Arctic territory is the world's largest island – it's six times the size of Germany. It is located in the far north but is an self-governing region of the Kingdom of Denmark.

At the summit, Mette Frederiksen, Denmark's Prime Minister, was sitting across from two key figures representing Trump: emissary Steve Witkoff and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner.

She was facing pressure from European colleagues not to alienating the US over the Greenland issue, lest that undermines US backing for the Ukrainian cause.

The continent's officials would have greatly desired to keep the Arctic dispute and the debate on the war apart. But with the tensions mounting from the White House and Denmark, representatives of big EU countries at the Paris meeting released a communiqué saying: "The island is part of NATO. Security in the North must therefore be secured jointly, in cooperation with alliance members like the US".

"It is for Copenhagen and Greenland, and them only, to rule on issues concerning Denmark and Greenland," the communiqué added.

The announcement was received positively by Nuuk's head of government, Jens Frederik Nielsen, but observers contend it was delayed to be formulated and, owing to the small set of endorsers to the statement, it was unable to demonstrate a Europe in agreement in objective.

"Had there been a unified statement from all 27 European Union countries, in addition to alliance partner the UK, in defense of Danish control, that would have sent a resounding message to America," commented a European defense expert.

Ponder the paradox at work at the European gathering. Numerous EU government and other leaders, from the alliance and the European Union, are seeking to involve the White House in safeguarding the future independence of a European country (Ukraine) against the hostile land claims of an external actor (Russia), just after the US has entered independent Venezuela militarily, detaining its leader, while also persistently actively undermining the sovereignty of a further European nation (Denmark).

To add to the complexity – Copenhagen and the US are both participants of the defensive pact NATO. They are, according to Copenhagen, exceptionally close allies. Or were.

The issue is, were Trump to fulfill his desire to bring Greenland under US control, would it constitute not just an existential threat to NATO but also a profound problem for the EU?

Europe Risks Being Trampled Underfoot

This is not the first time Trump has spoken of his resolve to acquire the Arctic island. He's floated the idea of acquiring it in the past. He's also refused to rule out taking it by force.

He insisted that the island is "vitally important right now, Greenland is covered with foreign naval assets all over the place. Our security demands Greenland from the vantage point of national security and Denmark is not going to be able to handle it".

Denmark refutes that claim. It not long ago committed to invest $4bn in the island's defense including boats, drones and aircraft.

Under a mutual pact, the US maintains a military base currently on the island – set up at the beginning of the East-West standoff. It has reduced the number of personnel there from approximately 10,000 during peak Cold War operations to about 200 and the US has frequently been criticized of neglecting the northern theater, recently.

Denmark has suggested it is amenable to dialogue about a larger US presence on the territory and further cooperation but faced with the US President's assertion of going it alone, the Danish PM said on Monday that Trump's ambition to control Greenland should be taken seriously.

After the US administration's actions in Venezuela this weekend, her colleges throughout Europe are doing just that.

"This whole situation has just underlined – yet again – Europe's fundamental weakness {