After Trump rules out US troops in Ukraine, Russia warns security talks without them are path to ‘nowhere’

“I am sure that in the West and above all in the United States they understand perfectly well that seriously discussing security issues without the Russian Federation is a utopia, it’s a road to nowhere,” he said.

Trump hosted Ukraine’s President and European leaders for discussions about security guarantees for Ukraine that could help to end the war.

In a phone interview with Fox News on Tuesday, Trump was asked whether he could assure listeners that the US would not deploy troops on the ground in Ukraine.

“You have my assurance, and I’m president,” Trump responded.

However, he indicated that Washington might still be prepared to provide air support to Ukraine as part of efforts to secure a deal. “There’ll be some form of security. It can’t be NATO,” he said, ruling out Ukraine’s membership in the alliance. “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.”

Lavrov on Wednesday also praised the new stance from Washington, saying: “United States has an increasingly clear understanding of the root causes of the Ukraine crisis.”

“It is good that the current US administration does not support the position of continuing the Ukraine war,” he added.

Zelenskyy-Putin face-to-face

White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said on Tuesday that both Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelenskyy had shown “a willingness to sit down with each other”, adding: “I understand accommodations for that meeting are under way.”

Bloomberg reported that Hungary has offered to host the talks, while French president Emmanuel Macron suggested Geneva, with Switzerland’s foreign minister promising “immunity” to Putin despite the international criminal court’s indictment against him.

Earlier, speaking alongside European leaders in Washington on Monday, Trump said Putin had agreed to face-to-face talks with Zelenskyy in the coming weeks to try to end the three-and-a-half-year war. Moscow has not confirmed such a meeting, which would be the first between the two leaders since the invasion.

Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said only that Putin and Trump had discussed “raising the level of representatives” in the talks, without explaining what that would mean or mentioning a trilateral meeting with Trump and Zelenskyy.

On state TV, Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said any encounter between Putin and Zelenskyy would have to be prepared “very thoroughly”.

In his Fox News interview the same day, Trump acknowledged the possibility that Putin may resist an agreement. “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,” he said, warning that Putin would face a “rough situation” if that proved true.