Jeff Mordock | August 18, 2025
(The Washington Times) — President Trump on Monday did not rule out sending U.S. troops to Ukraine as part of a peacekeeping force if a potential peace deal between Kyiv and Moscow can be reached.
“We’ll let you know that, maybe later today,” Mr. Trump said during an Oval Office meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Mr. Trump’s refusal to rule out the idea of U.S. boots on the ground in Ukraine is a potential major shift in his policy towards Ukraine as the war-torn nation considers security guarantees to be essential for any peace agreement. Mr. Trump met with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday to seek an end to the war.
Earlier this year, the Pentagon announced that it is not changing its stance against sending troops to Ukraine.
During the 2024 presidential campaign, Mr. Trump ran on the promise of keeping American troops out of foreign of conflicts and some members of his Cabinet, including Vice President J.D. Vance, have advocated for a vastly reduced U.S. role in the Ukraine war.
Mr. Trump said if there is a peace deal, Europe would take the lead in protecting it, but the U.S. would have an undefined role. Several European leaders were joining the discussions at the White House Monday.
“They are the first line of defense, because they’re there, Europe, but we are going to help them out,” Mr. Trump said. “Also we’ll be involved.”
Mr. Zelenskyy has estimated that ensuring peace in Ukraine would require 100,000 troops. The United Kingdom is already planning to send troops to Ukraine within the first week after a ceasefire is declared. It would also send several hundred instructors and engineers to assist in rebuilding Ukraine’s armed forces during a pause in hostilities.
Other European nations, including some smaller ones such as Lithuania, have also made a similar pledge to deploy their armed forces to Ukraine.
Mr. Trump emphasized that Monday’s meeting is not the “end of the road.”
“People are being killed and we want to stop that,” he said.
Mr. Trump’s apparent new openness to using U.S. troops in Ukraine came after he said there was “a reasonable chance” of ending the nearly four-year war between Ukraine and Russia if he can secure a trilateral meeting with Mr. Zelenskyy and Mr. Putin.
“I think if everything works out well today, we’ll have a trilat and I think there will be a reasonable chance of ending the war when we do that,” Mr. Trump said.
He said he would call Mr. Putin after his meeting with Mr. Zelenskyy and the leaders of other European nations, who arrived at the White House in a show of support for the Ukrainian president.
Mr. Zelenskyy insisted that he is prepared to find a diplomatic solution to end the war, stressing that he also wants a trilateral meeting with Mr. Trump and Mr. Putin.
However, he dodged questions about whether he was ready to give up land in a peace deal or if he was willing to keep on fighting and, as one reporter in the room described it, “sending Ukrainian troops to their deaths for another couple of years.”
“We need to stop this war, to stop Russia. And we need support from American and European partners,” he said. “We supported the idea of the United States — of, personally, President Trump — to stop this war, to make a diplomatic way of finishing this war.”
When asked what kind of security guarantees his country needs, Mr. Zelenskyy responded, “Everything.” He added that Ukraine needs a strong army that includes weapons, people, training and intelligence.
The White House visit was Mr. Zelenskyy’s first since his contentious exchange with Mr. Trump earlier this year, shocking European leaders and marking a shift in U.S. policy towards the war-torn nation.
The European heads of state have rallied around the Ukrainian leader as Mr. Trump appears likely to pressure Ukraine into land concessions to end its three-year war with Russia. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Finnish President Alexander Stubb, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte arrived at the White House ahead of Mr. Zelenskyy.
Ahead of the meeting, Mr. Macron dubbed the European leaders who high-tailed it to Washington as a “coalition of the willing,” saying their appearance was necessary to show a united front between Europe and Ukraine.
“If we show weakness today in front of Russia, we are laying the ground for future conflicts,” he said on Sunday.
The White House summit comes at a crucial moment in Ukraine’s fight to fend off Russian invaders. Russia has been advancing in the key region of Donetsk, and Mr. Trump just completed a meeting with Mr. Putin and seems more interested in pressing Kyiv into concessions.
Since his meeting with Mr. Putin, Mr. Trump has reversed a previously held position of calling for a ceasefire and instead is pushing for a final deal to end the war. Mr. Zelenskyy and other European leaders have called for a temporary ceasefire, but Mr. Trump has said a limited ceasefire is unsustainable.
White House envoy Steve Witkoff and Secretary of State Marco Rubio said over the weekend that Mr. Putin might be willing to accept an Article 5-like security guarantee for Ukraine even if it is not admitted into NATO. Instead, the Europeans and U.S. would provide the guarantee.
Article 5 is a collective defense agreement that an attack against one NATO member is considered an attack against all, and all members are obligated to assist the attacked country. It is the central tenet of NATO membership.
Mr. Zelenskyy’s refusal to accept a deal without those guarantees in March frustrated Mr. Trump and Vice Mr. Vance, who accused Mr. Zelenskyy of being ungrateful for U.S. support and unwilling to move on his demands.
Mr. Trump has urged Ukraine both publicly and privately to cede land in exchange for peace. Before his meeting with Mr. Putin last week, Mr. Trump worried both Europe and Ukraine when he prefaced the talks by insisting that Kyiv would have to give up land occupied by Russia.
