A distraction, a threat: how Ukrainians have viewed the Greenland crisis

Original article by Peter Beaumont in Odesa and Artem Mazhulin

In the Benedikt cafe in the Ukrainian port city of Odesa, one wall is covered by a giant map with countries and territories cut out of lacquered wooden pieces, with Greenland at its apex.

The waiter has not been following news of the Greenland crisis and Donald Trump’s desire to annex the Danish territory. But the echoes of the Russian president, Vladimir Putin’s imperial land grab of the waiter’s own country are clear to him. “They’re crazy. The pair of them.”

For those paying more attention in Ukraine, amid Russian airstrikes, the freezing cold and power cuts, the correspondences are not only clear, but often alarming – even if for now Trump has switched from sabre rattling to trying to rationalise a vague and incoherent deal he thinks he struck for the territory with Nato.

“There are three basic problems,” said Oleksandr Merezhko, the chair of the Ukrainian parliament’s committee on foreign policy and inter-parliamentary relations and an expert on international law.

“Firstly, it is a distraction from the situation we are in now. And any distraction among our European partners weakens the coalition supporting us. It weakens Nato, and it weakens transatlantic solidarity.”

Then there is the question of how Trump’s demands and actions undermine the post-second world war international rules-based order.

“As an international lawyer, one of the key principles is that territorial integrity is sacrosanct. We support the territorial integrity of Denmark. And what I am afraid of is [that the Greenland issue plays into] Putin’s idea of dividing the world into spheres of influence.”

Leo Litra of the New Europe Center, wrote for Ukrainska Pravda this week: “US actions regarding Greenland effectively legitimise aggressive territorial claims by stronger states against their neighbours (and not only their neighbours).

“This is precisely the logic underpinning Russia’s aggression. Such policies have met with unequivocal condemnation until now.

“Developments surrounding Greenland pose a direct threat to Ukraine’s defence in its war against Russia and force a fundamental reassessment of Europe’s entire security architecture, as well as its relationship with its principal ally, the United States – a role Washington has long played.”

It is also little secret to Ukrainians how the Greenland crisis has been playing in Russia and what the logic of the Kremlin’s framing means for them.

The Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, said on Monday: “Regardless of whether it’s good or bad and whether it complies with international law or not, there are international experts who believe that if Trump takes control of Greenland he will go down in history, and not only the US history but world history.”

“Without discussing whether it’s good or bad, it’s hard not to agree with these experts,” Peskov added.

On Tuesday, the Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, echoed, in reference to Greenland, some of the arguments Moscow has used to justify its illegal invasion of Ukraine. “In principle, Greenland isn’t a natural part of Denmark,” he said.

Russian-controlled bot networks have been used to amplify Kremlin disinformation on Ukraine through the prism of Greenland, including a fake video of the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, with the false claim he backed sending Ukrainian troops to defend the Arctic territory.

For ordinary Ukrainians the crisis that has swirled around Greenland underlines another issue of concern, even amid continuing high-profile diplomacy to end the war: a sense of European exhaustion with the conflict and a dangerous waning of attention.

For Zelenskyy, speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland this week, the Greenland crisis was emblematic of a dithering and divided Europe buffeted by more powerful forces.

“Just last year, here in Davos, I ended my speech with the words ‘Europe needs to know how to defend itself,’” Zelenskyy said. “A year has passed, and nothing has changed.” He added: “Europe remains in Greenland mode: maybe someone somewhere will do something.”

Others, however, see the refocusing of attention as evidence of exhaustion with the war in Ukraine, four years after Russia’s invasion.

“As a Ukrainian who has been living in a state of war for four years now, I feel not so much Europe’s indifference as its war fatigue,” said Oleksii Striapko, an IT specialist in Kharkiv.

“When new crises arise, such as those in the Middle East, tensions in the Arctic, Donald Trump’s statements about Nato, Greenland or the ‘quick end to the war’, the media and politicians naturally switch their focus. The information space cannot withstand constant concentration on one conflict for years.

“And Trump’s statements undermine the sense of stability. Europe is increasingly thinking not only about Ukraine, but also about its own security without the guaranteed support of the US. The world has entered a phase of parallel conflicts. Ukraine is no longer the ‘only big war’ even if it remains so in terms of scale and consequences.”

Some are more sanguine, seeing Trump’s comments and ambitions in terms of a wider rhetorical critique of Europe, also being pushed aggressively by the US vice-president, JD Vance.

“In the context of global events, I believe Europe can consolidate around the problem on the continent, namely Russia’s war against Ukraine,” said Bohdan Honcharenko, an entrepreneur in Kyiv.

“The challenges with Greenland are not something to be afraid of, because military intervention is impossible without the approval of the US Congress, so these are just Trump’s attacks on Europe.”

He repeated a thought also offered by Merezhko: that the crisis may contain a “silver lining” in persuading Europeans that they need to take responsibility for the continent’s security, including over the issue of Ukraine and the Russian threat to Europe.

“We’re strong in technology, drone security, modern combat tactics and other military aspects. Therefore, the consolidation of Europe around Ukraine will strengthen, and accordingly, our support will grow.

“So panic is unnecessary.”