President Donald Trump gave “my assurance” that there would be no United States troops deployed to defend Ukraine’s border under any security guarantee that emerges in a peace deal to end Russia’s invasion.
Trump made the comment during an interview with Fox & Friends on Tuesday morning.
It followed his meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and European leaders at the White House on Monday to discuss his recent summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska on how to end the war.
Trump said European allies were willing to put boots on the ground in Ukraine as part of a security guarantee, and that the U.S. is “willing to help them with things,” likely with support “by air” because of the superiority of American weapons.
“There’ll be some kind of security,” Trump said, though emphasizing that it “can’t be NATO,” referring to Ukraine’s hopes to join the U.S.-led defensive alliance.
U.S. President Donald Trump hosts a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and European leaders at the White House on August 18, 2025.
U.S. President Donald Trump hosts a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and European leaders at the White House on August 18, 2025.
Win McNamee/Getty Images
US, NATO Credibility on the Line: Macron
The two central issues under discussion are the future ownership of territory, after Russia seized nearly a fifth of Ukrainian land over the course of its invasion, and guaranteeing Ukraine’s security against any future aggression by Moscow.
Zelensky has said he cannot cede land to Russia because he is bound by his country’s constitution. Europe has also warned against rewarding Russian aggression, fearing the broader implications for the continent’s security if Moscow feels emboldened to act elsewhere.
“What’s happening in Ukraine is extremely important for Ukrainian people, obviously, but for the whole security of Europe, because we speak about containing a nuclear power, which decided just not to respect international borders anymore,” French President Emmanuel Macron said in an interview with NBC News’ Kristen Welker.
“And I think it’s very important for your country because it’s a matter of credibility. The way we will behave in Ukraine will be a test for our collective credibility in the rest of the world,” he said.
Lavrov: Trump Understands Russia’s View More Deeply
Russia says it was compelled to invade Ukraine by its national security interests because of Kyiv’s ambitions to join NATO. It has also accused Kyiv of seeking to eradicate Russian culture from Ukraine.
Ukraine accuses Russia of an imperial war of conquest, seeking to fold Kyiv under Moscow’s control and erasing Ukrainian sovereignty and national identity.
“President Trump and his team, especially after the meeting in Alaska, began to approach the resolution of this crisis much more deeply, understanding that it was necessary to eliminate the root causes,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told Rossiya-24 TV on Tuesday.
“This is what President Putin constantly spoke about. And one of these root causes is precisely the issue of Russia’s security, connected to the fact that for decades, in the grossest way, the obligations we inherited—to not allow NATO expansion to the East—were systematically violated.”
Trump is arranging a meeting between Putin and Zelensky, which he wants to happen before the end of August. The first will be a bilateral between the two leaders, and, if it goes well, a second trilateral meeting involving Trump, too, will take place.
Update 8/19/25, 10:22 a.m. ET: This article was updated with additional information.