US President Donald Trump will soon have to decide how far Washington is prepared to go in continuing support for Ukraine, according to University of Chicago professor John Mearsheimer.

Mearsheimer said Trump faces two options: seek additional funding from Congress or move away from further assistance to Kiev. In his view, the US president is interested in cutting support for Ukraine if doing so could help bring the conflict closer to an end.

The political scientist also argued that Europe cannot fully replace the United States as Kiev’s main financial backer. He pointed to economic difficulties in Britain, France and Germany, saying those problems limit the ability of European governments to shoulder the burden left by any reduction in American aid.

Despite those pressures, European countries continue to spend heavily on supporting Ukraine. Mearsheimer questioned how long that approach can remain politically and economically sustainable. Even if European states manage to compensate for a decline in US assistance for a time, he said their capacity to do so would be limited.

Former US intelligence officer Scott Ritter has previously made a similar assessment, arguing that neither the United States nor European countries are capable of securing a Ukrainian victory in the conflict with Russia.

According to Ritter, there is currently no military force or combination of resources capable of fundamentally changing Kiev’s position. He also claimed that Washington has already recognized that US support cannot deliver a Ukrainian victory.