President Trump is correct. No U.S. troops on the ground but we will provide logistics and aerial support. It's up to the Europeans to put up the troops to protect Ukraine, a country in their neighborhood. This is not an isolationist position but, rather a reality that the Europeans, individually rather through NATO, need to be involved.

So what countries are sending troops? Let's check this out from Thomas Latschan:

Following talks about Ukraine in Washington early this week, Western states are working to fine tune the details of the much-discussed "security guarantees" for Ukraine.

One important question is how a possible ceasefire could be secured along the more than 1,000-kilometer-long (621 miles) front line in eastern Ukraine. Another is which countries would be prepared to send soldiers to Ukraine? And how many, and with what sort of mandate?

The article points out that the UK is ready to lead. Germany and France want to do something but it's not clear what. Back to the article:

Denmark, Sweden, the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal and the Baltic states have also signaled their willingness to participate in a possible peacekeeping force in Ukraine.

However other European states are more cautious. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk rejects the deployment of Polish soldiers, which he says, would be extremely unpopular with the Polish population. Polls say that 85% of Poles reject the deployment of their own soldiers, even for a peacekeeping mission.

Hungary and Slovakia are also opposed to the deployment of European troops. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has even described the possible deployment of Western troops as "warmongering."

Austria and Italy are also cautious. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is particularly skeptical about the deployment of NATO troops and would prefer a UN-led mission. Meloni has so far avoided making any clear commitments.

So the meeting in the White House made some great photos. I don't know if the foreign leaders went there thinking that the U.S. would lead the mission with troops. Frankly, you can't blame them because that's what we've doing for 60 years.

The moment for European leadership is here. Again, this is not an isolationist position but rather a reality that the U.S. taxpayer has been carrying the load for too long. Ukraine is in their neighborhood and they should show Russia that they are willing to fight to defend their neighbor.

How many European troops? To deploy or not deploy, that is the question.

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Image: USAF