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This very day, a self-styled Group of the Willing, predominantly composed of European heads of state, gathered in the French capital with representatives of US President Donald Trump, attempting to secure additional advances on a durable settlement for the embattled nation.

With Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky asserting that a plan to conclude the war with Russia is "largely complete", not a single person in that gathering wanted to jeopardise keeping the Americans engaged.

Yet, there was an immense unspoken issue in that impressive and luxurious Paris meeting, and the underlying mood was extremely uneasy.

Bear in mind the developments of the past week: the US administration's controversial involvement in the South American nation and the President Trump's assertion following this, that "we need Greenland from the perspective of strategic interests".

This massive island is the world's greatest island – it's 600% the area of Germany. It is located in the Arctic but is an autonomous territory of Denmark's.

At the Paris meeting, Mette Frederiksen, the Danish Prime Minister, was sitting opposite two key figures speaking on behalf of Trump: emissary Steve Witkoff and Trump's adviser Jared Kushner.

She was subject to urging from her EU counterparts to avoid alienating the US over Greenland, lest that undermines US backing for Ukraine.

The continent's officials would have far preferred to keep the Arctic dispute and the debate on Ukraine separate. But with the political temperature mounting from the White House and Denmark, representatives of major EU countries at the Paris meeting issued a communiqué saying: "This territory is part of NATO. Security in the North must therefore be achieved jointly, in conjunction with NATO allies such as the United States".

"It is for Copenhagen and the Greenlandic authorities, and them only, to rule on affairs related to the kingdom and its autonomous territory," the statement further stated.

The communique was greeted by the island's leader, Jens Frederik Nielsen, but analysts say it was delayed to be put together and, owing to the restricted set of endorsers to the statement, it did not manage to project a European Union in agreement in objective.

"Were there a common statement from all 27 European Union countries, plus alliance partner the UK, in support of Copenhagen's control, that would have conveyed a powerful message to the US," commented a EU foreign policy analyst.

Reflect on the irony at hand at the Paris summit. Multiple EU national and other officials, such as NATO and the European Union, are attempting to secure the cooperation of the US administration in guaranteeing the future autonomy of a continental state (Ukraine) against the aggressive geopolitical designs of an external actor (Russia), on the heels of the US has intervened in independent Venezuela militarily, taking its president into custody, while also persistently actively undermining the sovereignty of a further European nation (Denmark).

To compound the situation – Copenhagen and the US are both participants of the military bloc the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. They are, according to Danish officials, extremely close allies. Previously, they were considered so.

The question is, if Trump were to make good on his goal to acquire Greenland, would it represent not just an severe risk to NATO but also a significant crisis for the EU?

Europe Risks Being Overlooked

This is not an isolated incident President Trump has spoken of his intention to dominate Greenland. He's proposed acquiring it in the past. He's also refused to rule out taking it by force.

He insisted that the territory is "vitally important right now, Greenland is covered with foreign ships all over the place. Our security demands Greenland from the perspective of defense and Denmark is incapable to handle it".

Copenhagen contests that claim. It not long ago committed to invest $4bn in Greenland defence including boats, drones and aircraft.

Pursuant to a mutual pact, the US operates a military base presently on Greenland – set up at the onset of the East-West standoff. It has reduced 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 Arctic Security, recently.

Denmark has indicated it is amenable to dialogue about a bigger US role on the island and more but confronted by the US President's assertion of unilateral action, Frederiksen said on Monday that Washington's desire to control Greenland should be considered a real possibility.

In the wake of the American intervention in Venezuela this past few days, her fellow leaders in Europe are taking it seriously.

"This whole situation has just underlined – yet again – Europe's core vulnerability {