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President Donald Trump pledged Tuesday that there will be no U.S. troops defending Ukraine’s border, even after he leaves office.
“You have my assurance,” he told “Fox & Friends” on Tuesday.
“I’m just trying to stop people from being killed,” he continued. “They’re losing 5,000 to 7,000 people a week in that ridiculous war that should have never happened. If we had a normal president — not even a great president — if we had normal president, it wouldn’t have happened.”
Trump said he intends to let Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy meet one-on-one before focusing on a broader trilateral discussion.
TRUMP: EUROPE WILL ‘TAKE A LOT OF THE BURDEN’ IN PROVIDING SECURITY GUARANTEES FOR UKRAINE
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (L) meets with US President Donald Trump in Washington D.C., United States on August 19, 2025. (Ukrainian Presidency / Handout/Anadolu via Getty Images)
“They haven’t exactly been best friends,” he said.
“Maybe they’re getting along a little bit better than I thought. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have set up the two [of them] meeting, I would have set up a [trilateral meeting].”
The president also reiterated that Ukraine will not be admitted into NATO, but argued that some European nations have agreed to provide NATO-like protections, including security guarantees.
President Donald Trump meets with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Oval Office at the White House, Monday, Aug. 18, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
Trump contrasted the ongoing Ukraine conflict with what he described as his success in brokering peace elsewhere.
“I’ve solved seven wars, we ended seven wars. I thought this would be one of the easier ones, and this has turned out to be the toughest one.”
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Trump’s comments came on the heels of a high-profile meeting with Zelenskyy and a slew of European and NATO leaders at the White House on Monday.
Trump previously met with Putin at a summit in Alaska and spoke with the Russian leader again following his meeting with Zelenskyy to begin coordinating next steps in the peace process aimed at ending the war in Ukraine.
This is a developing story. Come back for more updates.
Fox News’ Alec Schemmel contributed to this report.
