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This very day, a informal Group of the Committed, mostly consisting of EU leaders, met in Paris with envoys of President Trump, hoping to secure additional advances on a sustainable peace agreement for the embattled nation.

With President Volodymyr Zelensky declaring that a roadmap to end the hostilities with Russia is "nearly finalized", nobody in that gathering desired to endanger maintaining the US engaged.

Yet, there was an enormous elephant in the room in that impressive and sparkling Paris meeting, and the fundamental mood was profoundly uneasy.

Bear in mind the actions of the past week: the US administration's divisive incursion in the South American nation and the American leader's insistence soon after, that "it is essential to have Greenland from the perspective of strategic interests".

Greenland is the world's largest island – it's six times the size of Germany. It is located in the Arctic region but is an semi-independent possession of Copenhagen.

At the conference, Mette Frederiksen, Denmark's Prime Minister, was positioned opposite two key personalities representing Trump: special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump's adviser Jared Kushner.

She was facing pressure from her EU colleagues not to antagonising the US over Greenland, lest that undermines US backing for the Ukrainian cause.

Europe's leaders would have far preferred to compartmentalize the Arctic dispute and the discussions on the war apart. But with the diplomatic heat mounting from Washington and Copenhagen, leaders of leading European nations at the talks put out a communiqué asserting: "Greenland is part of the alliance. Stability in the North must therefore be attained jointly, in conjunction with treaty partners like the US".

"The decision is for Copenhagen and Greenland, and them only, to decide on affairs related to the kingdom and Greenland," the statement further stated.

The announcement was greeted by the island's leader, Jens Frederik Nielsen, but observers argue it was tardy to be drafted and, due to the limited set of supporters to the declaration, it was unable to demonstrate a European Union united in purpose.

"Were there a joint statement from all 27 EU partners, plus NATO ally the UK, in defense of Copenhagen's control, that would have conveyed a resounding signal to America," commented a EU foreign policy expert.

Ponder the contradiction at hand at the European gathering. Numerous European government and other officials, including NATO and the European Union, are seeking to involve the Trump administration in protecting the future autonomy of a European country (the Eastern European nation) against the aggressive territorial ambitions of an outside force (Moscow), on the heels of the US has swooped into independent Venezuela with force, arresting its head of state, while also continuing to actively challenging the sovereignty of a further EU member (the Kingdom of Denmark).

To add to the complexity – Copenhagen and the US are both participants of the military bloc the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. They are, according to Danish officials, profoundly close allies. At least, they were.

The dilemma is, if Trump were to make good on his goal to acquire Greenland, would it mark not just an existential threat to NATO but also a major challenge for the European Union?

Europe Faces the Danger of Being Marginalized

This is far from the first instance Trump has expressed his resolve to dominate the Arctic island. He's floated the idea of purchasing it in the past. He's also not excluded a military seizure.

Recently that the landmass is "vitally important right now, Greenland is patrolled by Russian and Chinese ships all over the place. We need Greenland from the standpoint of defense and Copenhagen is unable to do it".

Copenhagen strongly denies that claim. It recently pledged to invest $4bn in the island's defense including boats, drones and aircraft.

As per a treaty, the US maintains a military base presently on Greenland – established at the beginning of the East-West standoff. It has scaled down the total of troops there from around 10,000 during peak that era to about 200 and the US has long been accused of taking its eye off Arctic Security, recently.

Denmark has suggested it is willing to talk about a larger US presence on the territory and more but confronted by the US President's assertion of going it alone, Frederiksen said on Monday that the US leader's goal to control Greenland should be treated with gravity.

In the wake of the Washington's moves in Venezuela this past few days, her fellow leaders throughout Europe are doing just that.

"The current crisis has just underlined – once again – the EU's basic vulnerability {