Trump offers US security role for Ukraine but rules out NATO membership and American ground troops

Donald Trump hosted Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House on Monday alongside a delegation of European leaders that included the heads of government of France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom, the presidents of Finland and the European Commission, and the NATO secretary general. The meeting, the first between the two presidents since a fractious Oval Office encounter in February, produced the most detailed public outline yet of what a US-backed security guarantee for Ukraine might look like, and what it explicitly excludes.

No NATO membership, no American boots on the ground

Trump reiterated that Ukraine would not join NATO, calling membership "unrealistic" and confirming there would be "no going into NATO by Ukraine" as part of any ceasefire agreement. He also ruled out the deployment of US ground troops to Ukraine. In an interview with Fox News broadcast on Tuesday, he said European allies were "willing to put people on the ground" while the United States would contribute "especially, probably, if you talk about by air, because no one has the kind of stuff we have, really, they don't."

The president framed Europe as the "first line of defence because they're there, but we'll help them out." At the White House he told reporters: "We have people waiting in another room, right now, they're all here from Europe. Biggest people in Europe. And they want to give protection. They feel very strongly about it, and we'll help them out with that."

European leaders present a united front

The European contingent, Emmanuel Macron, Keir Starmer, Friedrich Merz, Giorgia Meloni, Alexander Stubb, Ursula von der Leyen and Mark Rutte, had travelled to Washington in part to ensure Kyiv's interests were represented after Trump's warm reception for Vladimir Putin in Alaska days earlier. Their presence signalled a coordinated effort to shape any security framework before it hardens into a bilateral US-Russia understanding.

Starmer, who in March declared a "coalition of the willing" would draw up a peace plan and provide security guarantees, convened a virtual meeting of that group on Tuesday. He has not specified whether the coalition would station troops in Ukraine after a ceasefire, nor whether its guarantees would persist beyond the war's end. The coalition remains a voluntary assembly of like-minded states rather than a treaty-bound alliance.

The Article 5-like proposal and Russian consent

Steve Witkoff, Trump's special envoy for the Middle East, told CNN that Russia had agreed to allow the United States and Europe to "effectively offer Article 5-like language to cover a security guarantee" to Ukraine. Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty states that an armed attack against one member is considered an attack against all. Witkoff's formulation suggests a collective defence commitment that stops short of NATO membership, presumably without the automatic military response that Article 5 triggers among the 32 allies.

Russia has long cited Kyiv's NATO ambitions and alliance enlargement in eastern Europe as a primary justification for its February 2022 invasion. If Moscow has indeed accepted Article 5-style language in a non-NATO context, it would represent a significant diplomatic concession, though the Kremlin has not publicly confirmed Witkoff's claim, and the precise wording, scope and enforcement mechanism remain undisclosed.

Expert scepticism: ambiguity and the Budapest precedent

Marina Miron of King's College London described Trump's language as "notably ambiguous" and said neither the United States nor the Trump administration appears "genuinely willing to become directly involved." She noted that even the Ukrainian side has not spelled out exactly what guarantees it requires, and that details such as troop numbers have not been specified. "Ukraine wants a lot, but how much of those security guarantees that Ukraine envisages it will get is another question," Miron said.

Keir Giles of Chatham House warned that guarantees could range from written promises, risking the fate of the 1994 Budapest Memorandum, in which Russia pledged to respect Ukraine's sovereignty only to violate it, to the actual deployment of Western troops to deter further aggression. The option of on-ground peacekeeping forces to supplement the Ukrainian army has, until now, been consistently ruled out by the United States and by European states without US backing.

Ukraine's position: everything, formalised within days

When asked what security guarantees Ukraine needs, Zelenskyy answered: "Everything." He later told reporters the guarantees would be "formalised on paper within the next week to 10 days" and that national security advisers are in constant contact. In a post on X he wrote that security issues are "a key issue, a starting point towards ending the war" and welcomed "the important signal from the United States regarding its readiness to support and be part of these guarantees."

Separately, Zelenskyy announced that Ukraine would buy US weapons worth $90bn, a figure that, if realised, would dwarf previous military aid packages and bind Kyiv's defence industrial base to American suppliers for years. The financing mechanism for such a purchase was not detailed.

The choice facing Kyiv

Miron argued that Trump is likely to push for a peace deal signalling to Ukraine that regaining lost territory militarily is unlikely. Ukraine then faces a stark choice: continue fighting and risk losing more ground without assured US support, or accept the current territorial reality. "From my understanding, if Ukraine continues fighting, they are not going to be counting on US support," she said. She added that if Russia resumes aggression, it is uncertain whether NATO members would intervene, as the alliance currently appears unwilling to confront Russia directly.