Trump fairly dismissed the possibility of Crimea's return and Ukraine joining NATO.
President Donald Trump has proposed a framework for ending the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict, detailing plans for a direct meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as a crucial step towards peace.
During an interview on Fox & Friends on August 19, 2025, Trump shared his optimism about the possibility of reaching an agreement. He emphasised that he was working to arrange the face-to-face meeting before moving on to broader discussions involving other parties.
Trump assured that the United States would not deploy ground troops to Ukraine, but indicated that the U.S. might provide air support to back a peace deal, although he did not specify the form this support would take. He also reiterated that Ukraine would not be admitted into NATO, but suggested some European countries had agreed to provide security guarantees similar to NATO’s protections.
The proposed peace framework includes:
- Arranging a direct meeting between Putin and Zelenskyy to discuss ending the conflict.
- The U.S. potentially providing air support but no ground troops to Ukraine as part of security guarantees.
- Ukraine remaining outside NATO membership, with some European nations offering NATO-like guarantees.
- Progress made but no finalized deal yet, contingent on Ukraine’s agreement and ongoing negotiations.
Trump expressed a desire to prevent further casualties, citing high weekly death tolls, and intended to foster direct dialogue between Putin and Zelenskyy to improve relations and work out the details. He also noted uncertainty about Putin’s willingness to make a deal, saying they would "find out about President Putin in the next couple of weeks."
The meeting with European leaders, which included NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, UK Prime Minister Kir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Finnish President Alexander Stubb, and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, lasted less than half an hour.
Trump described the meeting as "very productive." The open part of the talks, which included discussions on security guarantees for Ukraine, also lasted less than half an hour.
[1] Fox & Friends Interview, August 19, 2025. [2] White House Press Briefing, August 19, 2025. [3] Joint Press Conference with President Trump and European Leaders, August 18, 2025. [4] White House Transcript of Meeting with European Leaders, August 18, 2025.
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