The White House on Tuesday ruled out sending U.S. ground troops to Ukraine, while confirming that air support was still under consideration as part of the security assurances.
“The president has made it clear that there will be no U.S. boots on the ground in Ukraine, but we can certainly help coordinate and perhaps provide other forms of security assurances to our European allies,” spokeswoman Caroline Leavitt told reporters.
She added that U.S. President Donald Trump has instructed his national security team to develop an acceptable framework for lasting peace through security assurances.
“The president understands that security assurances are critical to ensuring lasting peace,” Leavitt said, noting that Trump has ordered coordination with European allies and continued talks with Ukraine and Russia.
Asked about air support as an option for security assurances, Leavitt confirmed that it was “something the president mentioned in his interview this morning. It is an option and a possibility.”
Trump told Fox News that the US could provide air support to European countries that are “willing to send people into the field, because nobody has what we have.”
Leavitt described the meeting between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin last Friday in the US state of Alaska as “very productive,” saying that several key points were agreed upon that “really opened the door to the second phase of the talks.”
She also recalled Trump’s meeting on Monday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and European leaders.
Leavitt confirmed that the US is working with Russia and Ukraine to organize the Putin-Zelensky meeting.
“The president has always said that there are areas of disagreement in this war that will have to be discussed and decided by these two countries,” she said.
