President Trump has said that it would be “impossible” for Ukraine to join Nato and that US security guarantees for the country would be limited to air support as divisions began to emerge with European leaders after Monday’s show of unity in Washington.
Trump said the idea of Ukraine joining Nato was “insulting” and called the country “a buffer between Russia and the rest of Europe” in his first post-summit interview, echoing Moscow’s talking points.
After cordial meetings with President Zelensky of Ukraine and seven European leaders, the change in tone from the US president marked a repositioning to place himself between western Europe and Russia, where he believes he stands the best chance to broker peace.
He conceded he had doubts about Vladimir Putin’s willingness to go along with the peace process, amid wrangling over the venue for the next step, a Putin-Zelensky meeting.
Putin reportedly said Zelensky should travel to Moscow for a summit on the Ukraine war. The Russian leader made the suggestion during a 40-minute phone call with Trump on Monday, while Zelensky and European leaders were at the White House for talks, according to sources.
“Putin mentioned Moscow,” a source told the AFP news agency, adding that Zelensky had said “no” in response. Putin would have made the suggestion knowing that Zelensky is highly unlikely to travel to the capital of an enemy state during wartime.
Yuri Ushakov, Putin’s foreign policy adviser, said on Tuesday that it would be “advisable to explore the possibility of raising the level of representatives of the Ukrainian and Russian sides”.
Sergey Lavrov, Russia’s foreign minister, equivocated further, saying any direct talks had to be considered “extremely carefully” and would require “step-by-step gradual preparation”.
Their comments signalled that Moscow would only agree to talks between senior officials, despite Trump’s impatience for the two presidents to meet face to face.
The Europeans proposed Geneva for a potential meeting place and the White House is said to be favouring Budapest in Hungary, led by Viktor Orban, the EU’s most pro-Russia leader.
“I hope President Putin is going to be good and if he’s not, that’s going to be a rough situation,” Trump told Fox & Friends on Tuesday. “I hope that President Zelensky will do what he has to do. He has to show some flexibility.”
Trump and Zelensky at the White House on Monday
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Trump added it “takes two to tango” but Zelensky has already agreed to a bilateral meeting with Putin followed by trilateral talks involving Trump to seal a deal. Moscow has not publicly committed to such a meeting although Karoline Leavitt, Trump’s press secretary, insisted Putin had given private assurances.
Negotiations intensified on the detail of security guarantees before a virtual meeting of Nato military leaders on Tuesday including General Dan Caine, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff. The British chief of the defence staff, Admiral Sir Tony Radakin, will be in Washington for consultations on “plans to deliver robust security guarantees and prepare for the deployment of a reassurance force if the hostilities ended”, Downing Street said.
Sir Keir Starmer told a virtual meeting of the “coalition of the willing” of European allies on Tuesday that there was “a real sense of unity and shared goal of securing a just and lasting peace for Ukraine” at their White House meeting with Trump.
The suggestion of a European peacekeeping force, supported by the US, provoked an angry response from Moscow, which said that any scenario involving Nato soldiers coming to Ukraine’s defence would risk “an uncontrolled escalation of the conflict with unpredictable consequences”.
During the virtual meeting, Starmer and President Macron of France also discussed how pressure could be placed on Putin until he showed he was “ready to take serious action to end his illegal invasion,” Downing Street said.
Trump, by contrast, appears to have abandoned talk of further sanctions on Russia and of a ceasefire, as he banks on assurances from Putin that he is committed to making a peace deal. Trump was caught on a hot mic at the Washington summit telling Macron: “I think he wants to make a deal for me. Do you understand? As crazy as it sounds.”
Macron told French TV on Tuesday that Putin “is a predator, an ogre at our door … who needs to keep eating for his own survival” and that Europeans “must not be naive” about him.
Trump said: “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.”
The US president said he would attend a three-way summit with Putin and Zelensky provided a face-to-face meeting between the pair “works out”.
Trump with Putin in Alaska on Friday
ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
“We’re setting up a meeting with Putin and Zelensky,” he told Fox & Friends. “They’re the ones that have to call the shots, we’re 7,000 miles away…. We’ll see what happens there and then if that works out — if it works out — then I’ll go to the trilat and close it up.”
On Monday Trump left open the possibility of US troops playing a role in security guarantees for Ukraine but there was an immediate backlash from the isolationist wing of his Maga base.
Asked about US “boots on the ground”, he said: “They’re [the Europeans] willing to put people on the ground. We’re willing to help them with things, especially probably if you could talk about air because there’s nobody [who] has the kind of stuff we have.”
Russia has objected to the idea of European troops in Ukraine, claiming this would amount to a Nato presence on its borders. But Trump said: “I don’t think it’s going to be a problem, to be honest with you. I think Putin is tired of it. I think they’re all tired of it. But you never know. We’re going to find out about President Putin in the next couple of weeks.”
Asked about “land swaps”, Trump appeared to lean towards Russia’s bid to take the Donbas region as the price of a durable peace. He also returned to the talking point that Ukraine bore some responsibility for the Russian invasion.
“Look, everybody can play cute and this and that, but, you know, Ukraine is going to get their life back, they’re going to stop having people killed all over the place and they’re going to get a lot of land,” Trump said.
Trump reiterated his belief that his predecessor President Biden was to blame for the war, which he maintains would not have started if he had been president at the time.
While his motives for ending it include a Nobel peace prize, he suggested another reason: “I want to try and get to Heaven if possible. I’m hearing I’m not doing well. I really hit the bottom of the totem pole. But if I can get to Heaven, this will be one of the reasons.”