WASHINGTON, D.C. – President Donald Trump hinted that he might have US troops helping with security guarantees for Ukraine. The announcement came ahead of his meeting with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European leaders at the White House.
This is a critical moment for the war in Ukraine. President Trump is doubling down that he doesn’t believe there needs to be a ceasefire agreement for the war to end, meaning that Ukraine and Russia could keep fighting until there’s a peace agreement. Zelenskyy thanked the President and other European leaders here, which include France, the UK, Italy, Germany, Finland, the EU and NATO, for their help in trying to end the war. Zelenskyy also added this was one of his best conversations yet with the President. All of the leaders here said they want peace and are looking at the options here to achieve that.
Zelenskyy stressed to Trump and to the other leaders a few items: they want the fighting to end, for Ukrainian soldiers to return home, they want the stolen Ukrainian kids to return to their families and they want security guarantees Russia will not invade or attack again. One possible security guarantee would be something similar to NATO’s Article Five, which means an attack on one is an attack on all. We’ll see if that’s something Russia would agree to but what we do know following the meeting between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin a few days ago in Alaska, is that Trump said to end the war, Ukraine should not become the next NATO member and might need to cede Crimea.
“And I have a feeling you [Zelenskyy] and President Putin are going to work something out,” said President Trump during the multilateral meeting. “Ultimately, this is a decision that can only be made by President Zelenskyy and by the people of Ukraine working also together in agreement with President Putin. And I just think that very good things are going to come of it.”
Zelenskyy reiterated that he is willing to meet with Putin and even offered Trump the chance to join that meeting if he wanted to. Trump said he will speak with President Putin over the phone right after this meeting.
