The president of the United States, Donald Trump, has ruled out deploying troops on the ground as part of in a future peace agreement with Russia, but has pointed out the possibility of participating in air support. In a telephone interview granted to the Fox News television network, the White House tenant indicated on Tuesday that it will be European countries that lead the protection efforts to the occupied country to prevent a repetition of Russian attacks.
“They have my guarantees [de que no se desplegarán tropas estadounidenses]”Trump said in the interview, who brought together President Ukraine, Volodimir Zelenski, already seven European leaders. In those conversations, the US president was first open in public to the United States to“ imply ”the security guarantees for Ukraine, and did not rule out the possibility of sending soldiers.
In the statements to Fox, the Republican has given more details about his plans for a future Ukraine in peace. In that context, Europe would lead efforts to protect the country now invaded by Russia. The United States could participate, meanwhile, in the air deployment. “With regard to security, they are willing to put people on the ground,” he said. “We are willing to help them with things, especially, probably … by air, because no one else has the kind of things we have,” he added.
The security guarantees for Ukraine have so far been one of the great issues pending resolving in the face of a potential peace agreement with Russia. Zelenski and Europeans claim some kind of protection to prevent Moscow from repeating their aggressions in the future. But Trump had systematically dodged himself, and claimed that his security guarantee was ukrainy signed with kyiv this spring.
After concluding Monday’s summit, the Republican wrote in a message on his social network, Truth, that security guarantees “will be contributed by several European countries, in coordination with the United States.”
Ukrainian drones
The White House Summit dedicated a good part of its deliberations to address these guarantees. Zelenski raised, among other things, a huge purchase of American weapons, worth 90,000 million (77,000 million euros), whose amount would be disbursed by European allies. For its part, the United States would import drones from Ukraine (which during the war), although the Ukrainian leader clarified that the agreement has not yet been formalized. The guarantees, according to him, will be captured on paper “in the next seven to ten days.”
European participants point out that the guarantees would be similar to those granted by article 5 of the NATO Foundation Charter – which forces the mutual defense of its members – although kyiv is not a member. But Trump has insisted that Ukraine will not have a route of entry into the alliance. “There will be some kind of security. [Esa seguridad] It cannot be from NATO because that is simply something that never, it will never happen. ”
The US president also confirmed in the interview that he interrupted the conversations with the European leaders towards the end of the meeting, to call the Russian leader, Vladimir Putin, and propose a meeting with Zelenski.
The idea is that the two enemies see the faces, something that, according to German chancellor Friedrich Merz, could occur in two weeks. Then he would go to a tripartite format, between Zelenski, Putin and Trump.
“I thought it is better that they meet first. They have not been exactly the best friends … it only matters that we get things to solve. I hope President Zelenski does what he has to do. He must show some flexibility,” Trump said in his interview on Tuesday. The American argues that the encounter between the two enemies is possible. “Maybe they begin to get a little better than I thought. […] You have to have some kind of relationship, otherwise we do nothing but waste a lot of time, ”he added.
Trump has not specified whether Putin was willing to meet Zelenski in that conversation. So far, the Kremlin has emphasized that an “among the heads of state” must prepare “thoroughly.” The US president has recognized, in his interview, that it is possible that the Russian does not want to reach an agreement. And he has clarified that, in that case, Putin would be “in a difficult situation.” “We will discover it in a couple of weeks,” he insisted.
In any case, he has stressed, they will have to be Moscow and kyiv who agree on the terms of a future peace agreement. “They are the ones who have to decide … we are 10,000 kilometers,” he said.
