Amid President Donald Trump’s impactful work to bring peace to Eastern Europe, the White House has confirmed its stance on whether U.S. military forces would ever be deployed on the ground in Ukraine.
During a press briefing on Tuesday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt discussed the sensitive and ongoing talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
“Thanks to President Trump’s efforts, we finally have movement after years of deadly gridlock,” she said, discussing the three-and-a-half-year conflict sparked during the Biden administration.
On Friday, Trump met with President Putin in Alaska, and just 48 hours later, he welcomed European leaders – including President Zelensky – to the White House for a multilateral meeting on how to achieve peace in the region.
“President Trump is the peace president and American leadership is back on the world stage,” Leavitt said.
In the wake of this meeting at the White House, Trump announced that his administration is helping set up a bilateral meeting between Putin and Zelensky, to be capped off by a trilateral meeting that would possibly include Trump.
“He wants these two countries to engage in direct diplomacy,” Leavitt said.
And, as far as security guarantees or military involvement, Leavitt noted that “I won’t rule out anything as far as military options at [Trump’s] disposal” but the president has “definitively ruled out boots on the ground.”
She also noted that as far as what promises may be made to European leaders or Ukraine, “I will leave it to the National Security team and I’ll leave it to the president to have those private conversations with these leaders as we try to bring this war to an end.”
The White House was not yet ready to provide information about where Zelensky and Putin may meet for a potential bilateral meeting, but Leavitt indicated that the president’s National Security team will be involved in negotiating those options.
