US President Donald Trump on Tuesday ruled out sending American troops to help enforce a potential peace deal in Ukraine, repeating his warning that Russian President Vladimir Putin would face a “rough situation” if he did not co-operate in the peace process. In a phone interview with Fox News, Trump was asked: “What kind of assurances do you feel like you have, going forward, past this Trump administration, that it won’t be American boots on the ground defending (Ukraine’s) border?” “Well, you have my assurance, and I’m president,” Trump replied. His remarks came a day after hosting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European leaders at the White House for talks on his peace efforts, following his summit with Putin in Alaska last Friday. "I'm just trying to stop people from being killed," he said. "They're losing 5,000 to 7,000 people a week in that ridiculous war that should have never happened. If we had a normal president — not even a great president — if we had normal president, it wouldn't have happened." He also hoped that Putin was going to "be good" and move toward ending the war in Ukraine, though he conceded it was possible the Russian president does not want to make a deal. "I don't think it's going to be a problem, to be honest with you. I think Putin is tired of it. I think they're all tired of it, but you never know," Trump told Fox News’ "Fox & Friends." "We're going to find out about President Putin in the next couple of weeks . It's possible that he doesn't want to make a deal," Trump said, adding that Putin will face a "rough situation" if that were the case. After Monday’s talks, Trump said he had called Putin to help arrange a one-on-one meeting between Putin and Zelenskiy, to be followed by a trilateral meeting including himself. Warning of ‘rough situation’ Trump said in the interview he believed relations between Putin and Zelenskyy might be "a little bit better," or else he would not have pursued their meeting. He also highlighted his own warm ties with Putin, even as he acknowledged the potential for talks to collapse. "I hope President Putin is going to be good, and if he's not, it's going to be a rough situation. And I hope that . President Zelenskyy will do what he has to do. He has to show some flexibility also," Trump said. Trump also addressed the difficulties of negotiating with Putin and Zelenskyy, saying: “I told him9Putin) that we’re going to set up a meeting with President Zelenskyy, and you and he will meet, and then after that meeting, if everything works out OK, I’ll meet and we’ll wrap it up. It takes, in this case, two to tango. They have to have somewhat of a relationship, otherwise we’re just wasting a lot of time.” On the issue of security guarantees for Ukraine as part of any peace settlement, Trump noted that while Europe was prepared to commit troops in some form, the United States would not — though it could provide other forms of assistance. "There'll be some form of security. It can't be NATO," he said. "They're willing to put people on the ground. We're willing to help them with things, especially, probably, if you could talk about by air."
