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This very day, a informal Coalition of the Determined, mostly consisting of European heads of state, convened in the French capital with envoys of President Trump, aiming to make more advances on a sustainable settlement for the embattled nation.

With Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky insisting that a plan to conclude the conflict with Russia is "largely complete", no-one in that gathering wanted to jeopardise maintaining the US onboard.

Yet, there was an immense elephant in the room in that impressive and sparkling Paris meeting, and the underlying atmosphere was extremely strained.

Consider the developments of the past week: the White House's controversial involvement in Venezuela and the US president's assertion shortly thereafter, that "it is essential to have Greenland from the perspective of defense".

Greenland is the world's greatest island – it's six times the dimensions of Germany. It is located in the Arctic but is an autonomous possession of the Kingdom of Denmark.

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

She was under pressure from her EU allies not to provoking the US over the Arctic question, for fear that that undermines US assistance for Ukraine.

EU heads of state would have much rather to compartmentalize Greenland and the debate on Ukraine apart. But with the diplomatic heat mounting from Washington and Copenhagen, leaders of leading EU countries at the talks released a statement asserting: "This territory is part of NATO. Security in the North must therefore be secured together, in cooperation with NATO allies such as the United States".

"Sovereignty is for Copenhagen and Greenland, and no one else, to rule on issues concerning the kingdom and Greenland," the statement further stated.

The statement was received positively by the island's leader, Jens Frederik Nielsen, but critics say it was delayed to be formulated and, owing to the restricted set of endorsers to the statement, it did not manage to show a European Union aligned in purpose.

"Had there been a joint statement from all 27 member states, along with NATO ally the UK, in backing of Copenhagen's authority, that would have conveyed a powerful signal to Washington," noted a European foreign policy expert.

Ponder the paradox at play at the European gathering. Multiple EU government and other leaders, including the alliance and the EU, are seeking to secure the cooperation of the White House in guaranteeing the future autonomy of a EU nation (the Eastern European nation) against the hostile land claims of an external actor (Russia), on the heels of the US has intervened in sovereign Venezuela with force, taking its president into custody, while also persistently actively challenging the territorial integrity of another EU member (Denmark).

To make matters even more stark – Copenhagen and the US are both members of the military bloc the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. They are, according to Danish officials, exceptionally close allies. At least, they were.

The dilemma is, if Trump were to fulfill his ambition to assert control over the island, would it represent not just an fundamental challenge to the alliance but also a significant problem for the European Union?

Europe Risks Being Overlooked

This is far from the first instance Trump has expressed his intention to control the Arctic island. He's suggested acquiring it in the past. He's also not excluded forcible annexation.

He insisted that the landmass is "vitally important right now, Greenland is frequented by foreign vessels all over the place. We need Greenland from the vantage point of national security and Denmark is not going to be able to do it".

Denmark contests that claim. It has lately pledged to spend $4bn in Greenland defence for boats, drones and aircraft.

Under a mutual pact, the US operates a defense installation already on Greenland – established at the onset of the East-West standoff. It has scaled down the total of staff there from approximately 10,000 during the height of the confrontation to approximately 200 and the US has long been accused of taking its eye off Arctic Security, until now.

Denmark has indicated it is willing to talk about a larger US presence on the island and additional measures but confronted by the US President's warning of unilateral action, Frederiksen said on Monday that Trump's ambition to take Greenland should be considered a real possibility.

Following the Washington's moves in Venezuela this weekend, her colleges throughout Europe are doing just that.

"The current crisis has just emphasized – yet again – the EU's basic vulnerability {