Trump says no U.S. boots on the ground in Ukraine

President Trump said he won’t send American troops to help stop the fighting in Ukraine after not ruling out the idea while meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other European leaders in the Oval Office Monday.

During a phone interview with “Fox & Friends” Tuesday, Mr. Trump was asked whether U.S. soldiers would be included in protecting Ukraine.

His answer was no.

“Well, you have my assurance, and I’m president,” he said.

It’s a more definitive answer than the one he gave in the meeting with Mr. Zelenskyy. When asked about U.S. troops going to Ukraine, Mr. Trump said, “We’ll let you know that, maybe later today.”

He also said Europe would take the lead in protecting any peace deal to end the Ukraine-Russia war.

“They are the first line of defense, because they’re there, Europe, but we are going to help them out,” Mr. Trump said. “Also, we’ll be involved.”

During his phone interview, he reiterated that Ukraine’s admission into NATO and the return of Crimea to Ukraine won’t happen.

“Well, both of those things are impossible,” he said.

The president said he was surprised at the relationship between Mr. Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying the two are “getting along a little bit better than I thought.”

“I think they’re doing OK. I wouldn’t say they are ever going to be best friends, but they’re doing OK,” Mr. Trump said, adding that they need to “call the shots.”

He added, “We’re 7,000 miles away.”

Mr. Trump said he didn’t call Mr. Putin after the meeting while everyone —  the leaders from Ukraine, Britain, France, Germany, Finland, Italy, the European Union and NATO — was in the room because it would be disrespectful to the Russian president.

“You know, I wouldn’t do that because they have not had the warmest relations,” Mr. Trump said.

“They had no communication with the White House for years as people died. Years with [then-President] Biden and his people. No communication. Putin told me, years,” he said. “It was years that he — that he didn’t speak to anybody from the White House. And it was a long time that he didn’t speak to anybody from Europe.”

Mr. Trump said that despite everything, he still “maintained a very good relationship” with Mr. Putin.