As President Donald Trump works to mediate peace in Ukraine, a major concern among many Americans is that their loved ones will be sent to Ukraine as part of a security agreement being worked out with European and Russian leaders.
On Tuesday, Trump sought to allay those concerns. During a call-in to Fox and Friends, when asked to provide assurance that Americans won’t end up defending Ukraine’s border, he said, “Well, you have my assurance, and I’m president.”
Trump has been talking to the heads of major European nations as well as those of the two warring nations in Eastern Europe. The issue European leaders, including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, brought up most often during their marathon meeting on Monday was “security guarantees.” Zelensky and the heads of the major Western European nations have made clear that if it were up to them, there would be U.S. troops on the ground in Ukraine.
On Monday, Trump was asked about the issue several times, and his responses were consistently vague. When a reporter asked if he would be willing to send “peacekeepers” to Ukraine, Trump evaded, saying, “We’re going to work with Ukraine, we’re going to work with everybody.” A reporter followed up, hoping for clarity. Trump responded, “When it comes to security, there’ll be a lot of help. Europe is the first line of defense, because they’re there, but we’ll help them out.”
Tuesday morning’s “assurance” is the most resolute he’s been on this particular question. But that doesn’t mean that the Europeans won’t try to infuse as much American muscle into the working agreement as possible — and it doesn’t mean that Russians will agree to whatever they propose.
Trump recently claimed that Putin agreed to accept security guarantees during his visit in Alaska, a highly curious claim. The Russians have been consistent in their opposition to having troops from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) alliance on their border with Ukraine (ironically, the issue that triggered Russia’s invasion — Ukraine’s possible admittance into NATO — caused Finland to join the alliance in 2023, making it the third NATO nation that shares a border with Russia, Estonia and Latvia being the other two). On August 18, the Russians reiterated their opposition to this proposal. Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that Russia does not accept “any scenarios involving the deployment of NATO troops in Ukraine that could lead to an uncontrolled escalation of the conflict.”
A deal between Ukraine and Russia is far from being ironed out, and with tensions in the region humming high, Trump’s assurance that he won’t send American troops to Eastern Europe is better than his usual ambiguity — but it’s insufficient.
Constitutionally speaking, this decision shouldn’t even be up to the president. Article I, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution allocates major military-related decisions to Congress. Congress provides for the common defense, Congress declares war, Congress raises and supports armies. As for Article II, Section 2, the oft-cited justification for presidential control of the military, it says that the president “shall be commander in chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the militia of the United States, when called into the actual service of the United States.” Who is doing this calling? We refer back to Article I, Section 8: “Congress shall have the power to … declare war.”
As for treaties, the Constitution gives the president more powers. Section 2 says, “He [the president] shall have power, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, to make treaties, provided two-thirds of the Senators present concur.”
So even it the agreement being worked out now would fall under the treaty clause, it appears the president would need support from the Senate if the agreement includes any U.S. military involvement.