President Donald Trump left open the possibility that the U.S. military could have a physical presence in Ukraine in the post-war aftermath.
During the highly anticipated meeting between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House on Monday, Trump said the United States would be “involved” in the security guarantees Ukraine seeks to end the conflict and ensure Russia cannot restart it when it’s better equipped.
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Trump did not specify exactly what the U.S.’s involvement could entail, but he did not rule out a U.S. military presence in Ukraine once the war ends.
“Well, we’re going to work with Ukraine. We’re going to work with everybody, and we’re going to make sure that if there’s peace, the peace is going to stay long term,” Trump said in the Oval Office next to Zelensky. “This is a very long-term. We‘re not talking about a two-year peace, and then we end up in this mess again.”
The president was then asked directly about the possibility of a U.S. military presence as one of the security guarantees, which Trump said would be a topic of conversation when he and Zelensky talk with a handful of other European leaders who traveled to Washington, D.C. for a meeting.
“We’ll let you know that maybe later today. We’re meeting with seven great leaders of great countries, also, and we’ll be talking about that. They’ll all be involved, but there’ll be a lot of help when it comes to security. There’s going to be a lot of help; it’s going to be good. They are [the] first line of defense because they’re there,” Trump said, referencing European countries. “But we’re going to help them out also. We’ll be involved.”
The president’s remarks were made ahead of his bilateral conversation with Zelensky and a meeting between them with U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Finnish President Alexander Stubb, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
Over the weekend, U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff said Russia agreed to allow “Article 5-like protection” for Ukraine during Friday’s meeting between Trump and Putin, which is a reference to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s founding charter stating an attack on one NATO ally is treated like an attack against all members.
Trump has said he does not believe Ukraine should join the alliance. The Kremlin also does not want Ukraine to join NATO.
The president has said his ultimate goal is to end the war and has acknowledged this will mean both sides will have to make difficult concessions. Trump has said both sides may have to give up territory, with either Russia giving Ukraine territory it currently occupies or Ukraine sacrificing occupied territory and redrawing borders. Neither side has expressed a willingness to do so.
Zelensky has rebuffed any mention of formalizing the annexation of Ukrainian territory in a deal, though his hands are tied because the Ukrainian constitution bars the redrawing of its borders.
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He and other senior Ukrainian leaders have long talked about the need for security guarantees to ensure that there would be a robust response if Russia, after ending the war, decided to resume it.
Putin launched the war in the Donbas region of Ukraine and annexed Crimea in 2014. Eight years later, he decided he wanted to take full control of Ukraine. In the early days of the war, Ukraine did not receive much Western military aid due to the belief that it would lose the war in a matter of days or weeks.