Trump rules out sending troops to Ukraine, even if UK and Europe put boots on the ground
Sir Keir Starmer has hailed progress on US support for a security guarantee in Ukraine
US President Donald Trump has ruled out putting US boots on the ground to assist peacekeeping efforts in Ukraine, while claiming that the UK, France and Germany "want" to send soldiers to the country.
The US President said the country would only be willing to help Ukraine "from the air" as a part of security guarantees.
Speaking to Fox News on Tuesday, Trump said European troops would be involved on the ground in Ukraine to deter any future Russian invasion.
“They’re willing to put people on the ground,” Trump said.
"Some of them, France and Germany, a couple of them, the UK – they are going to have boots on the ground.
“We’re willing to help them with things, especially probably if you could talk about by air, because there’s nobody has the kind of stuff we have.”
"They want to have boots on the ground," he added, "I don't think it's going to be a problem."
UK Defence Secretary John Healey said on Friday that the government would be "ready to put boots on the ground" to help reinforce a ceasefire if agreed.
Trump said Russian President Vladimir Putin would face a “rough situation” if he did not cooperate in the peace process but that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had to “show some flexibility”.
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has co-chaired a Coalition of the Willing meeting on Tuesday to discuss the next steps for Ukraine.
Starmer reflected on Monday's meeting at the White House before confirming planners would meet with their US counterparts in the coming days to further strengthen plans.
The leaders also discussed the possibility of imposing tougher sanctions on Russia.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said he is ready to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin "in any format" following his own talks with Donald Trump at the White House on Monday.
Speaking to reporters, the Ukrainian president said this meeting, without either country setting preconditions, was the only way to resolve the conflict and tackle issues over territory seized during the war in Ukraine.
Zelenskyy was speaking after talks hosted by US President Donald Trump with European leaders, including Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, President Macron of France and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.
In a change of tone from his last meeting with Zelenskyy in the Oval Office, Trump said there was a “good chance” of ending the war through these meetings.
“I know the president, I know myself, and I believe Vladimir Putin wants to see it end,” Trump said.
Following the talks, Trump spoke with Putin on the phone to begin arrangements for a meeting between Ukraine and Russia.
The Kremlin confirmed the call, adding that the leaders spoke for around 40 minutes. It is unclear whether Putin has signed up to a direct meeting between himself and Zelenskyy.
“At the conclusion of the meetings, I called President Putin, and began the arrangements for a meeting, at a location to be determined, between President Putin and President Zelenskyy,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
A trilateral meeting that would include Trump, Zelenskyy and Putin would follow the meeting between Ukraine and Russia, Trump added. He did not provide any details about timing or location.
Addressing future Russia-Ukraine talks, Zelenskyy said: "A will to end the war is a diplomatic meeting at the level of leaders. If one or another side will not demonstrate a will to meet, then we will ask the United States to act accordingly."
Trump said during the talks with Zelenskyy and the European leaders that a potential ceasefire and who gets Ukrainian territory seized by Russia should be hashed out during a face-to-face meeting between the two warring countries' leaders.
This was a shift from comments Trump made soon after meeting Putin last week, in which he appeared to tilt towards Putin’s demands that Ukraine should make concessions over land seized by Russia.
During his latest visit to Washington, Zelenskyy said he'd had the opportunity for the "first time" to directly talk with Trump about the importance of the captured areas to Ukraine.
Russia now controls roughly one-fifth of Ukrainian territory.
In a welcome signal for European leaders, who for some time have been asking the US for this, Trump signalled he could aid European security guarantees as part of any peace process.
Starmer welcomed these plans after Trump introduced him at the negotiating table as a “friend."
Starmer said: “Your indication of security guarantees, of some sort of article five-style guarantees, fits with what we’ve been doing with the coalition of the willing, which we started some months ago, bringing countries together and showing that we were prepared to step up to the plate when it came to security."
“With you coming alongside, what we’ve already developed, I think we could take a really important step forward today – a historic step, actually, could come out of this meeting in terms of security for Ukraine and security in Europe.”
Starmer also described potential future trilateral talks between Ukraine, Russia and the US as a “sensible next step” and said he thought Monday's talks "will be seen as a very important day in recent years.”
Echoing this sentiment, Zelenskyy described Monday's meeting as “really good”, saying they had been “the best” so far.
“We are very happy with the president that all the leaders are here and security in Ukraine depends on the United States and on you and on those leaders who are with us in our hearts," he added.
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