Trump: US Won't Send Troops to Ukraine

Donald Trump has ruled out sending US troops to Ukraine to enforce a potential peace deal with Vladimir Putin, tempering a promise to provide Kyiv with security guarantees that European allies had called a "significant breakthrough" toward halting Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

- Andrew Roth Pjotr Sauer

Asked during a telephone interview with Fox News whether he could assure the audience - including many members of his Maga base who support an isolationist America First foreign policy - that the US would not put troops on the ground in Ukraine, he said: "You have my assurance, and I'm president."

But Trump added that the US may be willing to provide air support to Ukraine in order to backstop a deal, in what would remain a remarkable shift in his policy on the conflict.

"There'll be some form of security. It can't be Nato," he said, ruling out Ukraine's entrance into the transatlantic security bloc.

"They're willing to put people on the ground. We're willing to help them with things, especially, probably, if you could talk about by air."

Yesterday, the White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, said both leaders had expressed "a willingness to sit down with each other". She added: "I understand accommodations for that meeting are under way."

Politico reported that the White House was eyeing Budapest as a first choice for the summit, with US Secret Service teams scouting the Hungarian capital for a potential meeting. The French president, Emmanuel Macron, had proposed Geneva, with the Swiss foreign minister promising "immunity" to Putin despite an indictment by the international criminal court.

Russia has said that it views the deployment of troops from Nato countries to Ukraine as a red line in negotiations.

Trump yesterday dismissed that concern, and said that he was still optimistic about the potential to reach a deal with Putin.

Trump's pledge to provide "security guarantees" for Ukraine to ensure that Russia would abide by a peace deal was called a "significant breakthrough" by Nato's secretary general, Mark Rutte, on Monday, as Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European leaders convened at the White House.