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President Donald Trump said that his meeting at the White House Monday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy isn’t a last attempt to help Ukraine secure a peace deal ending its war with Russia.
“I can never say that. It’s never the end of the road,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office Monday. “People are being killed, and we want to stop that. So I would not say it’s the end of the road. No, I think we have a good chance of doing it now. It’s been almost four years now that, a lot of people were killed last week, a lot of people last week. I mean, millions of people killed, but a lot of people last week, for whatever reason, a big number, a lot of soldiers, both on both sides. And, I know the president. I know myself, and I believe Vladimir Putin wants to see it ended.”
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Trump’s comments come days after he met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Anchorage, Alaska, Friday. Trump also said Monday that he called Putin ahead of his meeting with Zelenskyy, and would call the Russian leader again after talks with Zelenskyy and other European leaders wrapped up.
Zelenskyy, who hasn’t visited the White House since February, is joined by other European leaders who have supported Ukraine. Leaders also in Washington include British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen, French President Emmanuel Macron and NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte.
Trump told reporters that he wouldn’t eliminate the possibility that U.S. troops could be deployed to Ukraine following a peace negotiation to ensure Russia upholds its end of the bargain.
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“We will give them very good protection, very good security. That’s part of it,” Trump told reporters Monday.
Trump said more details would be forthcoming on what it would mean to deploy U.S. troops to Ukraine, and that he would be discussing the matter with other European leaders Monday.
“They’ll all be involved, but there’ll be a lot of help when it comes to security, there’s going to be a lot of help, it’s going to be good,” Trump said. “They are first line of defense, because they’re there, they’re Europe, but we’re going to help them out also, we’ll be involved.”
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Although Trump said Sunday that NATO membership for Ukraine was not an option for a potential peace deal, U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff said Sunday that Putin has agreed to allow the U.S. and other European allies to provide additional protection for Ukraine, similar to protections included in NATO’s Article 5 mutual defense clause.
“We were able to win the following concession that the United States could offer Article 5-like protection, which is one of the real reasons why Ukraine wants to be in NATO,” Witkoff said in an interview with CNN.
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