They have better manners across the pond.

Rattled European leaders gathered in London on Sunday, scrambling to salvage any U.S. backing for Ukraine — and to map a way through disintegrating transatlantic security relations — after the televised Oval Office blowup between President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

European heads of state continued to rally around Zelensky, who was greeted with cheers outside 10 Downing Street and a warm hug from British Prime Minister Keir Starmer when he arrived Saturday. European Union and NATO leaders met later Sunday in London, where Ukraine was at the forefront of discussions, and Zelensky attended. Starmer, in brief remarks before the leaders walked in for talks, said recent events had brought Europe to “a once in a generation” moment.

It’s a bit as if they’re gathering to figure out what to do about Grendel.

European leaders continued their chorus of support for Ukraine that began after Friday’s fireworks, praising the country’s efforts to resist the Russian invasion even as they took care not to directly criticize Trump.

Because he’s Grendel. If you criticize him he might eat you or step on your house or burn your city to the ground.

Starmer and Macron made clear they would continue their campaign to rescue something of American backing for Ukraine, even as they confronted the growing evidence that Trump’s pivot toward Russian President Vladimir Putin could be genuine and lasting. And that Europe would be forced to take on more of Ukraine’s — and possibly its own — defense if Trump shrinks the U.S. role.

Or if Trump just plain invades Europe. It wouldn’t surprise me.

Starmer had called the London summit as a follow-up to two gatherings of European heads of state, which struggled to respond to Trump’s upending of long-entrenched security and trade norms.

The British leader has tried to place London at the forefront of Europe’s response to the Trump upheavals. Starmer fast-tracked a surge in U.K. defense spending Saturday and pledged British troops as a main part of a potential future European security force in Ukraine. On Sunday, he called on other European governments to grow their militaries and to join a “coalition of the willing” in taking up the slack in Ukraine.

In defiance of the coalition of the assholes.