Some Russia-Ukraine questions answered Tuesday, more remain

By Morgan Sweeney
The Center Square

The White House has helped open the channels of communication between Russia, Ukraine and the rest of Europe, but the details of any resolution to the Russia-Ukraine war remain murky.

The White House continues to highlight the differences in how President Donald Trump has responded to the overseas conflict versus former President Joe Biden. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt shared some remarks from European leaders to that effect from Monday’s discussions at the White House at a Tuesday press briefing.

“Finnish President Alexander Stubb said, ‘I think in the past two weeks, we’ve probably had more progress in ending this war than we have had in the past three and a half years,” Leavitt told reporters.

Yet, despite an in-person sit-down between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska Friday, followed by a White House visit from the Ukrainian president and other European leaders Monday – all to identify a pathway to peace for the two warring nations – there’s still much that remains unclear about what exactly that will look like.

Reports indicate that Putin demanded in Friday’s meeting that the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine where most of the fighting has occurred be ceded to Russia. Putin also insists that the international community officially recognize Crimea – a Ukrainian peninsula that juts into the Black Sea, which Russia illegally annexed in 2014 – as a Russian territory. And despite Putin saying publicly on Friday that Russia was “sincerely interested in putting an end” to the war, Russia launched missile attacks on Ukraine after Monday’s discussions ended.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has been adamant that Ukraine will not cede any territory to Russia.

The one “concession” that Putin seemingly made in Friday’s conversation is that he has said Ukraine should have access to security guarantees from the U.S. and European allies, which Zelenskyy has repeatedly stressed as a precondition for a peace agreement.

Special Envoy Steve Witkoff has said this security guarantee could look like NATO’s collective defense article, which states that if one participating country is attacked, the others will step in to defend it (even though Ukraine is not a part of NATO). But it’s not completely clear what Putin has agreed to, since he has vehemently opposed the presence of western troops in Ukraine in the past.

Trump seemed much more amenable Monday to America being a part of those security guarantees than he has on other occasions. And though he didn’t clearly rule out American boots on the ground as part of peacekeeping efforts in Ukraine on Monday, he clarified Tuesday that he wasn’t open to that option.

He told reporters on Fox & Friends Tuesday morning they had his “assurance” that no U.S. troops would be deployed to Ukraine.

“You have my assurance,” he said. “I’m just trying to stop people from being killed.”

However, while the president says he won’t agree to American forces on the ground in Ukraine, he also told Fox that a peaceful solution could include American aerial forces.

“We’re willing to help [Europe] with things, especially, probably, if you talk about by air because nobody has stuff we have,” Trump said.

Leavitt was asked at a press conference Tuesday afternoon to confirm that the president was open to American air support to help keep the peace.

“It is an option and a possibility. I won’t, certainly, rule out anything as far as military options that the president has at his disposal. I’ll let him do that,” Leavitt said.

Leavitt also confirmed that Putin had promised to meet with Zelenskyy, if the Ukrainian president agrees in the coming weeks.

Trump has said there may be a meeting between Putin and Zelenskyy soon followed by a meeting between the three of them.