U.S. President Donald Trump again addressed the possibility of security guarantees for Ukraine, suggesting that the United States and European NATO members could play a role if a peace deal is eventually reached.
Speaking from the Oval Office on Monday, Trump said Washington would contribute but stressed that the U.S. would no longer provide open-ended funding. Instead, he emphasized Europe would bear primary responsibility for such guarantees, while America would play a supporting and coordinating role. “Europe is going to give them significant security guarantees, and they should, because they’re right there. But we’ll be involved from the standpoint of backup to help them,” Trump stated.
Trump acknowledged that the specifics of the proposed guarantees remain undefined. “We don’t even know what the security guarantee is because we haven’t even discussed the specifics of it. But we’re going to help them. And if we get a deal – and I think we will – I don’t believe we’re going to have much of a problem,” he added.
His comments contrast with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s claims that details of the guarantees would be revealed by the end of the week. Moscow, meanwhile, has strongly opposed the idea of NATO troops being deployed in Ukraine or the introduction of “Article 5-style” security commitments backed by Western powers.
Trump also noted that any potential guarantees would depend on reaching an agreement between Kiev and Moscow, raising doubts about their viability if Russia rejected or resisted them.
While attempting to maintain optimism about the peace process, Trump conceded that ending the war has proven far more difficult than he initially anticipated. On Monday, he admitted, “I thought this would be the easiest of them all, and it was the most difficult.”