On July 7, the Transatlantic Dialogue Center (TDC), in partnership with Helsing, co-hosted a side event, “The Missing Angle: Mapping the U.S.–EU–Ukraine Security Triangle“, at the “Allies in Ankara“ forum, organized by the Munich Security Conference and the SETA Foundation within the framework of the NATO Summit 2026.
The discussion addressed the urgent need to sustain pragmatic security cooperation between the United States, the European Union, and Ukraine amid diverging strategic priorities and Russia’s ongoing war. The event opened with a presentation by Marianna Fakhurdínova, Coordinator of the EU–Ukraine Partnership Program at TDC and CEPA Fellow, drawing on TDC’s recent study “Navigating the U.S.–EU–Ukraine Triangle: Revitalizing Transatlantic Security Cooperation“.
El panel reunió a Bob Deen, General Director of The Clingendael Institute; Jason Israel, Auterion Senior Fellow for the Defense Technology Initiative at CEPA and guest lecturer at the National Defense University; Benjamin Tallis, Head of Policy and Analysis at Helsing; and Tomáš Valášek, Member of the National Council of Slovakia and former Permanent Representative of Slovakia to NATO.
The speakers examined how the U.S., the EU, and Ukraine can maintain cooperation at a moment when debates on transatlantic security often focus on U.S.–European burden-sharing, while Ukraine’s role as a battlefield-tested security provider and emerging defense-industrial partner remains underexplored. The exchange focused on Europe’s conventional deterrence timelines and capability gaps, the evolving division of labor in defense technology and procurement, and the structural barriers to deeper EU–Ukraine defense-industrial integration, including funding, intellectual property regulations, export controls, and competition.
Rather than treating Ukraine solely as a recipient of security assistance, the discussion emphasized the need to integrate Ukraine more fully into the future European security architecture. Participants also addressed mechanisms for securing long-term commitments to Ukraine despite fluctuating electoral cycles, the role of EU–NATO coordination and security guarantees, opportunities for defense-industrial cooperation and co-production, and the broader challenge of responding to the Russia–China–Iran–North Korea alignment.
TDC extends its gratitude to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly members, defense industry representatives, and think-tank colleagues who contributed to this substantive dialogue. The session was convened by the TDC team, including Stepan Rusyn y Maksym Skrypchenko.
