Star Metro - Trump says US air support possible for Ukraine security guarantee

"When it comes to security, they're willing to put people on the ground," he told Fox News, referring to European allies whom he met in the White House on Monday.

"We're willing to help them with things, especially, probably, if you talk about by air, because no one has the kind of stuff we have, really, they don't," Trump said.

He added his "assurance" that no US ground troops would deploy to Ukraine, and he categorically ruled out Ukraine joining the Western military alliance NATO.

Post-war security is a key concern for Kyiv after more than three years of Russian invasion. Moscow has long said it will not tolerate Ukraine joining NATO and has been hostile to the idea of Western troops deploying to the former Soviet territory.

Trump said that "France and Germany, a couple of them, UK -- they want to have boots on the ground."

"I don’t think it’s going to be a problem, to be honest with you. I think, I think Putin is tired of" the war, he added.

Trump said that following his talks Monday with European leaders he is pushing to organize a bilateral summit between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky -- followed by another where he will join.

"I called President Putin, and we're trying to work out a meeting with President Zelensky. We'll see what happens there," he said. "If that works out, if it works out, then I'll go to the trilat and close it up."

Saying it was possible Putin would back out, Trump said "I hope President Putin's going to be good and if not, it's going to be a rough situation."

Zelensky "has to show some flexibility also."

In addition to the question of guaranteeing Ukraine's future security, the other key sticking point in ending the war is the status of the huge swaths of land occupied by Russia.

Trump said Ukraine has to accept it will not get its lost territories back -- including the eastern Donbas region -- but in return will get peace.

"I assume you've all seen the map. You know, a big chunk of territory is taken and that territory has been taken. Now they're talking about Donbas, but Donbas right now, as you know, is 79 percent owned and controlled by Russia," Trump said.

The US leader said Ukraine was not powerful enough to change the situation.

"This was a war and Russia is a powerful military nation, you know. Whether people like it or not, it's a powerful nation. It's a much bigger nation," he said. "You don't take, you don't take on a nation that's 10 times your size."

"Everybody can play cute and this and that, but, you know, Ukraine is going to get their life back," Trump said about a peace deal involving Ukraine surrendering land. "They're going to stop having people killed all over the place and they're going to get a lot of land."

X.Boucher--SMC