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This very day, a so-called Group of the Committed, largely composed of European officials, met in Paris with envoys of US President Donald Trump, aiming to secure additional headway on a lasting settlement for the embattled nation.

With Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky declaring that a roadmap to conclude the hostilities with Russia is "90% of the way there", not a single person in that meeting wanted to jeopardise retaining the US engaged.

Yet, there was an enormous elephant in the room in that opulent and sparkling gathering, and the prevailing mood was extremely tense.

Recall the events of the past week: the White House's divisive involvement in Venezuela and the American leader's declaration shortly thereafter, that "we need Greenland from the perspective of defense".

The vast Arctic territory is the world's greatest island – it's 600% the size of Germany. It lies in the Arctic region but is an self-governing region of Denmark's.

At the conference, Mette Frederiksen, the Danish Prime Minister, was seated across from two key personalities acting for Trump: emissary Steve Witkoff and Trump's relative Jared Kushner.

She was subject to urging from European allies not to alienating the US over the Greenland issue, in case that undermines US assistance for Ukraine.

Europe's leaders would have greatly desired to keep the Arctic dispute and the debate on the war apart. But with the political temperature rising from Washington and Denmark, representatives of leading European nations at the gathering put out a statement stating: "This territory is part of NATO. Security in the North must therefore be achieved collectively, in cooperation with NATO allies including the US".

"It is for Copenhagen and Greenland, and them only, to rule on affairs concerning Denmark and Greenland," the statement further stated.

The communique was welcomed by the island's leader, Jens Frederik Nielsen, but observers say it was slow to be put together and, due to the restricted number of signatories to the statement, it did not manage to show a Europe in agreement in intent.

"Had there been a common position from all 27 EU partners, in addition to NATO ally the UK, in defense of Copenhagen's authority, that would have delivered a resounding signal to America," noted a European defense expert.

Ponder the contradiction at hand at the Paris summit. Multiple European government and other leaders, such as the alliance and the EU, are trying to secure the cooperation of the White House in protecting the future sovereignty of a continental state (the Eastern European nation) against the expansionist geopolitical designs of an outside force (Russia), just after the US has entered independent Venezuela militarily, arresting its head of state, while also still actively undermining the territorial integrity of a further European nation (Denmark).

To compound the situation – Copenhagen and the US are both participants of the military bloc NATO. They are, in the view of Copenhagen, exceptionally close allies. Previously, they were considered so.

The issue is, if Trump were to make good on his goal to bring Greenland under US control, would it mark not just an severe risk to the alliance but also a major crisis for the European Union?

Europe Risks Being Overlooked

This is not an isolated incident Trump has voiced his determination to dominate Greenland. He's proposed purchasing it in the past. He's also refused to rule out forcible annexation.

On Sunday that the island is "crucially located right now, it is covered with Russian and Chinese ships all over the place. We need Greenland from the vantage point of strategic interests and Denmark is not going to be able to handle it".

Copenhagen strongly denies that last statement. It has lately pledged to invest $4bn in the island's defense for boats, drones and aircraft.

As per a bilateral agreement, the US has a strategic outpost presently on Greenland – set up at the beginning of the East-West standoff. It has reduced the figure of personnel there from around 10,000 during the height of Cold War operations to about 200 and the US has frequently been criticized of taking its eye off polar defense, until now.

Copenhagen has signaled it is amenable to dialogue about a larger US role on the territory and further cooperation but confronted by the US President's warning of independent moves, the Danish PM said on Monday that Washington's desire to control Greenland should be considered a real possibility.

After the American intervention in Venezuela this past few days, her counterparts throughout Europe are taking it seriously.

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