UKRAINE PERSPECTIVE

For Ukraine, the withdrawal of 5,000 US soldiers from Germany — and especially Trump's threat to go 'a lot further' — is a source of deep concern. US-EUCOM, headquartered in Stuttgart, Germany, coordinates much of the Western military support to Kyiv. Any reduction of US presence in Germany could indirectly affect support flows to Ukraine.

The Tomahawk cancellation is also worrying: these long-range missiles were presented as a concrete reinforcement of deterrence against Moscow. Their absence concretely weakens Western strike potential in Eastern Europe.

Republican senators Wicker and Rogers expressed a similar concern: they want the 5,000 troops redeployed further east, not repatriated. 'Prematurely reducing America's forward presence in Europe before those capabilities are fully realized risks undermining deterrence and sending the wrong signal to Vladimir Putin.'