US President Donald Trump on Tuesday offered his assurances that American troops would not be sent to help defend Ukraine against Russia after seeming to leave open the possibility the day before.
Trump also said in a morning TV interview that Ukraine's hopes of joining NATO and regaining the Crimean Peninsula from Russia are “impossible.”
The Republican president, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other European leaders held hours of talks at the White House on Monday aimed at bringing an end to Russia’s war against Ukraine.
While answering questions from journalists, Trump did not rule out sending US troops to participate in a European-led effort to defend Ukraine as part of security guarantees sought by Zelenskyy.
But asked Tuesday on Fox News' 'Fox & Friends' what assurances he could provide going forward and beyond his term that American troops would not be part of defending Ukraine’s border, Trump said, “Well, you have my assurance, and I’m president.”
The president also said in the interview that he is optimistic that a deal can be reached to end the Russian invasion, but he underscored that Ukraine will have to set aside its hope of getting back Crimea, which was seized by Russian forces in 2014, and its long-held aspirations of joining the NATO military alliance.
“Both of those things are impossible,” Trump said.
Putin floats Moscow for Zelenskyy summit
Meanwhile, Russian President Valdimir Putin proposed holding a peace summit with Zelenskyy in Moscow, according to three sources familiar with a phone call between the US President Trump and Russian leader.
"Putin mentioned Moscow" during their call on Monday, one of the sources told AFP, adding that Zelenskyy had said "no" in response.
A diplomatic source close to the discussions said that European leaders had told Trump that Putin's proposal "did not seem like a good idea."
Switzerland, meanwhile, had said earlier that it would grant Putin immunity if he came to the country for talks on peace in Ukraine, despite the International Criminal Court's arrest warrant.
After the summit in the White House on Monday that included the German, French, Finnish, Italian and UK leaders, Trump said a next step to stopping the fighting now its fourth year would be a face-to-face meeting between Putin and Zelenskyy.
The Ukrainian leader has said repeatedly in recent weeks that he is prepared to sit down with Putin to end the Russian invasion, which has cost tens of thousands of lives and displaced millions.
Putin told Trump during the call on Monday that he was open to the "idea" of direct talks with Ukraine, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said, according to state media.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Tuesday that any meeting between the Russian and Ukrainian presidents would have to be prepared "very thoroughly."
The discussion between Trump and Putin came during high-stakes talks in Washington between Trump, Zelenskyy and European leaders that back Ukraine in its fighting against Russia's invasion.
Trump said after his meeting in Alaska last week with Putin that the Russian President was open to the idea of security guarantees for Ukraine.
Putin, as part of any potential deal to pull his forces out of Ukraine, is looking for the withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, as well as recognition of Crimea as Russian territory.
