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Earlier today, a self-styled Coalition of the Committed, mostly composed of EU officials, convened in Paris with representatives of President Trump, attempting to achieve further headway on a sustainable peace deal for the embattled nation.

With Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky insisting that a roadmap to end the hostilities with Russia is "90% of the way there", nobody in that gathering desired to jeopardise retaining the US involved.

Yet, there was an colossal unspoken issue in that opulent and luxurious Paris meeting, and the underlying mood was exceptionally strained.

Bear in mind the events of the last few days: the Trump administration's divisive incursion in the South American nation and the American leader's declaration soon after, that "it is essential to have Greenland from the standpoint of strategic interests".

This massive island is the world's largest island – it's six times the area of Germany. It is located in the Arctic region but is an semi-independent region of the Kingdom of Denmark.

At the Paris meeting, Mette Frederiksen, the Danish Prime Minister, was sitting opposite two powerful personalities acting for Trump: diplomat Steve Witkoff and Trump's adviser Jared Kushner.

She was facing pressure from her EU counterparts not to provoking the US over Greenland, lest that impacts US support for the Ukrainian cause.

Europe's leaders would have greatly desired to keep Greenland and the debate on the war apart. But with the diplomatic heat escalating from the White House and Copenhagen, leaders of major EU countries at the Paris meeting put out a declaration saying: "Greenland is part of the alliance. Stability in the North must therefore be attained together, in conjunction with NATO allies including the America".

"Sovereignty is for Copenhagen and the Greenlandic authorities, and them alone, to decide on issues related to the kingdom and Greenland," the declaration added.

The communique was received positively by Nuuk's head of government, Jens Frederik Nielsen, but observers contend it was slow to be drafted and, due to the limited group of signatories to the declaration, it failed to show a European Union united in intent.

"Were there a common declaration from all 27 European Union countries, along with NATO ally the UK, in backing of Danish authority, that would have conveyed a powerful signal to the US," commented a EU foreign policy specialist.

Reflect on the paradox at play at the European gathering. Numerous European national and other leaders, such as NATO and the EU, are trying to involve the US administration in protecting the future independence of a European country (the Eastern European nation) against the hostile geopolitical designs of an foreign power (Moscow), on the heels of the US has swooped into independent Venezuela militarily, taking its president into custody, while also continuing to publicly challenging the territorial integrity of another European nation (the Kingdom of Denmark).

To make matters even more stark – Copenhagen and the US are both participants of the transatlantic alliance the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. They are, according to Copenhagen, extremely strong partners. At least, they were.

The issue is, were Trump to make good on his ambition to bring Greenland under US control, would it mark not just an fundamental challenge to NATO but also a major problem for the EU?

Europe Faces the Danger of Being Marginalized

This is not an isolated incident Trump has spoken of his intention to dominate the Arctic island. He's proposed acquiring it in the past. He's also not excluded forcible annexation.

He insisted that the island is "so strategic right now, it is patrolled by Russian and Chinese vessels all over the place. Our security demands Greenland from the standpoint of defense and Denmark is incapable to do it".

Copenhagen refutes that claim. It has lately pledged to spend $4bn in Arctic security encompassing boats, drones and aircraft.

As per a mutual pact, the US operates a defense installation already on Greenland – founded at the beginning of the Cold War. It has scaled down the figure of staff there from approximately 10,000 during the height of Cold War operations to about 200 and the US has often been faulted of overlooking polar defense, until now.

Denmark has signaled it is open to discussion about a bigger US role on the island and more but faced with the US President's warning of going it alone, Frederiksen said on Monday that Trump's ambition to acquire Greenland should be considered a real possibility.

Following the US administration's actions in Venezuela this past few days, her colleges throughout Europe are heeding that warning.

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