Ralf Dekker In The Ukraine Debate: ‘European Countries Should Let Donald Trump Do His Job’

Speech to the Second Chamber of the States-General (Dutch Parliament)

By Ralf Dekker, MP

28 November 2025

Chair,

It appears that Russia is moving ever closer to achieving its objective of destroying Ukraine’s military capabilities, capabilities that have been built up over more than ten years by NATO, especially by the United States.

With the inauguration of President Trump, fortunately, dialogue with Russia has reopened. The European countries, with the exception of Hungary, have unfortunately failed to seek constructive openings at the diplomatic level.

President Trump has said that he would prefer to withdraw from the conflict as quickly as possible. Within his political circle there is resistance to this, as there is also among the European countries and, of course, within the Ukrainian government.

In the meantime, the Trump administration has launched several initiatives to reach an understanding with Russia. The meeting between Trump and Putin in Anchorage was, in that regard, a hopeful development. Since then, there have been contacts between the US and Russia at various levels.

Russia continues its war of attrition and is steadily working towards the capitulation of Ukraine. Militarily, the US or NATO can do little to stop this. And the numerous economic sanctions remain without noticeable effect. They seem, above all, harmful to the European countries themselves.

President Trump wants to pre-empt the moment of Ukrainian capitulation, in order to avoid a humiliating American defeat, and thus a failure of his presidency.

The leaked so-called 28-point plan, with which the Americans intended to conduct talks with Russia, contains no outright dealbreakers and does include several points on which the Russians would gladly reach agreement, such as declaring Ukraine definitively neutral and therefore excluding NATO membership, the absence of NATO troops, strong limitations on its armed forces, territorial arrangements, and elections within 100 days.

According to the Russians, this plan was in line with the agreements Putin and Trump made in Anchorage and could form a basis for further discussions.

Subsequently, the European countries and Ukraine formulated an alternative plan which added elements which are unacceptable to Russia, such as an unconditional ceasefire, possible NATO membership, and Article 5-like security guarantees.

The resulting 19-point plan has not been made public in detail, but seems to strike a balance between the two proposals. It is reasonable to assume that such a plan will not make peace negotiations with the Russians possible.

It seems that we, the European countries, are living in an unrealistic world. We are the ones who systematically torpedo viable and seemingly realistic American proposals and turn them into an unacceptable diktat to Russia.

We act as though we are the winners. But it is becoming increasingly clear that we are the losers. And losers are not in a position to impose diktats. This makes the situation absurd, cynical, and the complete opposite of what it appears to be.

Under the guise of striving for a “just peace” and upholding the “rules-based order”, more and more of Ukraine is being sacrificed in a war that will certainly be lost without - but also with - American support.

In the future, therefore, any peace deal with the Russians will only become worse for Ukraine and also for Europe.

This is pushing Europe towards a financial crisis and a very problematic future, with real risks of escalation in which Western European countries such as the Netherlands could become involved in combat operations.

Among the “coalition of the willing”, of which we are a part, everyone seems to think along the same lines, a moral condemnation of Russia and the relentless continuation of a sacred and unwinnable war - even if that runs counter to American peace proposals.

For us, this has so far only cost money, which by now is running out.

For Ukraine, it has cost above all hundreds of thousands of lives. And those lives, too, are running out.

I would like to ask the Prime Minister: urge the “coalition of the willing” to exercise restraint and avoid further escalation.

Do not obstruct the American peace plans.

Thank you.