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Earlier today, a self-styled Coalition of the Willing, mostly composed of EU officials, met in Paris with delegates of the Trump administration, aiming to make further advances on a durable settlement for the embattled nation.

With Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky declaring that a framework to end the conflict with Russia is "largely complete", nobody in that room desired to jeopardise retaining the Washington engaged.

Yet, there was an enormous unspoken issue in that grand and luxurious summit, and the fundamental mood was profoundly strained.

Bear in mind the developments of the past week: the White House's contentious involvement in the South American nation and the President Trump's insistence shortly thereafter, that "our national security requires Greenland from the perspective of national security".

The vast Arctic territory is the world's greatest island – it's sixfold the dimensions of Germany. It is located in the far north but is an autonomous territory of Copenhagen.

At the conference, Mette Frederiksen, the Danish Prime Minister, was positioned across from two powerful figures representing Trump: special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner.

She was under pressure from European counterparts not to provoking the US over the Greenland issue, lest that affects US support for Ukraine.

The continent's officials would have much rather to keep the Arctic dispute and the debate on the war separate. But with the tensions escalating from the White House and Denmark, representatives of major EU countries at the Paris meeting released a communiqué saying: "This territory is part of NATO. Security in the Arctic must therefore be secured jointly, in cooperation with NATO allies such as the America".

"The decision is for Copenhagen and Greenland, and them only, to rule on matters regarding Denmark and its autonomous territory," the communiqué added.

The announcement was welcomed by Greenland's prime minister, Jens Frederik Nielsen, but critics contend it was delayed to be formulated and, owing to the restricted number of supporters to the declaration, it was unable to show a European Union united in objective.

"Were there a unified declaration from all 27 European Union countries, plus NATO ally the UK, in defense of Copenhagen's authority, that would have conveyed a resounding signal to America," noted a European defense analyst.

Ponder the contradiction at play at the France meeting. Numerous EU government and other officials, from NATO and the European Union, are trying to engage the Trump administration in safeguarding the future independence of a continental state (Ukraine) against the hostile geopolitical designs of an external actor (Moscow), just after the US has entered independent Venezuela by armed intervention, detaining its leader, while also persistently actively undermining the territorial integrity of a different European nation (the Kingdom of Denmark).

To add to the complexity – Denmark and the US are both participants of the military bloc the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. They are, in the view of Copenhagen, exceptionally close allies. At least, they were.

The dilemma is, should Trump make good on his desire to acquire Greenland, would it constitute not just an severe risk to the alliance but also a major crisis for the EU?

Europe Faces the Danger of Being Overlooked

This is not the first time President Trump has spoken of his intention to dominate Greenland. He's floated the idea of acquiring it in the past. He's also left open the possibility of a military seizure.

Recently that the island is "crucially located right now, Greenland is frequented by foreign vessels all over the place. It is imperative to have Greenland from the vantage point of defense and Denmark is incapable to do it".

Denmark strongly denies that claim. It has lately vowed to spend $4bn in the island's defense for boats, drones and aircraft.

As per a mutual pact, the US operates a defense installation already on the island – established at the onset of the Cold War. It has scaled down the total of personnel there from about 10,000 during peak the confrontation to about 200 and the US has long been accused of neglecting polar defense, recently.

Denmark has signaled it is willing to talk about a expanded US role on the territory and additional measures but faced with the US President's threat of independent moves, the Danish PM said on Monday that Washington's desire to acquire Greenland should be considered a real possibility.

In the wake of the US administration's actions in Venezuela this weekend, her counterparts in Europe are taking it seriously.

"The current crisis has just emphasized – yet again – the EU's fundamental shortcoming {