“Today, the Coalition of the Willing convened,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen wrote Saturday morning, in a grandiose announcement on X, which smacked of FOMO.

After months calling for the EU to have a seat at the table in any Ukraine-Russia peace talks, no EU-level leader even got a seat on the train which carried the leaders of France, Germany, Poland and Britain into Kyiv to hand Russia an ultimatum.

The interrailing boys called US President Donald Trump and apparently got his backing to make an ultimatum to Vladimir Putin: agree a 30-day ceasefire starting Monday or face unbearable economic pressure.

“If the ceasefire is violated, we are agreed that massive sanctions would be prepared and coordinated between Europeans and Americans,” said French President Emmanuel Macron.

But for a ceasefire to be violated, it surely has to be in place to start with. Right on cue, Putin rejected it as a non-starter.

So … where are the sanctions?

There was no sign of them in Brussels on Monday, where ambassadors of the EU member countries met to cobble together another piddling package of sanctions against Russia.

Now in their 17th round, this latest volley of sanctions is hardly going to put a dent in Russia’s war economy. For that the EU would do better closing the loopholes in its existing sanctions – so porous that an entire fleet of Greek ships can slip through them.

Berlin is still threatening to follow through with big sanctions, and some European foreign ministers met in London today to discuss what more they could do. But does anyone believe “massive” and coordinated Russia sanctions are coming?

US President Donald Trump abandoned the Europeans almost as soon as he’d hung up on them, writing on Truth Social one day later that Ukraine should “IMMEDIATELY” accept Putin’s invitation to direct talks in Turkey.

Macron has spent months trying to convince Trump that the choreography of reaching a negotiated peace in Ukraine must be for a ceasefire first, and proper talks second.

If Europe and the US can’t coordinate on basic messaging, what hope is there for effective coordination on sanctions?

The era, earlier in the war, when the European Commission and the White House huddled to coordinate tailored damage to Russia’s economy is well and truly over.

Across Europe

Germans lose interest in climate – Environmental concerns used to be top of the public agenda. But these have now been overshadowed by issues of health care, education, and public safety.

Austria’s defence strategy – The new chancellor Christian Stocker told Euractiv that Austria has no plans to join NATO. He stressed the need to revive his country’s ailing economy.

Remigration meeting in Milan – Far-right leaders from across Europe will gather near Milan next week to promote ‘remigration’, a hardline plan to deport non-white immigrants and their descendants, regardless of citizenship, birthplace, or legal status.