US signals air support to Kyiv after White House talks with Zelensky, European leaders

The White House said that US aircraft could be used to support security guarantees for Ukraine, while reaffirming that US troops will not be deployed on the ground.

In an interview following high-stakes talks on Aug 18 with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and seven European leaders at the White House, United States President Donald Trump said, “You have my assurance” that US troops would not be part of defending Ukraine’s border.

“When it comes to security, (Europeans) are willing to put people on the ground. We’re willing to help them with things, especially, probably … by air,” Trump told Fox News on Aug 19.

At a news briefing that day, Trump’s press secretary Karoline Leavitt also said Trump “has definitively stated that US boots will not be on the ground in Ukraine”, but added that Washington “can certainly help in the coordination and perhaps

provide other means of security guarantees” to European allies.

Asked whether air support could be part of that, Leavitt replied: “It is an option and a possibility. I won’t rule out anything as far as military options the president has at his disposal.”

US and European military planners have begun exploring post-conflict security guarantees for Ukraine, US officials and sources told Reuters on Aug 19.

They cautioned it would take time for them to determine what would be both militarily feasible and acceptable to the Kremlin.

Moscow has rejected the idea of European troop deployments in Ukraine as security guarantees.

On Aug 18, Russia’s Foreign Ministry reiterated its “long-standing position of unequivocally rejecting any scenarios involving the deployment of NATO military contingents in Ukraine”, noting that it risks “uncontrollable escalation with unpredictable consequences”.

At the Aug 19 briefing, Leavitt said plans for a bilateral meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Zelensky are now “underway”, with “many options” being discussed. However, the press secretary declined to answer questions about specific locations.

On Aug 18, Trump and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban discussed Budapest, the capital, as a potential host for future talks between Putin and Zelensky, a White House official told Reuters.

So far, there has been no confirmation from Russia that a potential bilateral meeting between Putin and Zelensky is being planned. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Aug 19 that contacts involving national leaders must be prepared “with the utmost thoroughness” and cannot be pursued for the sake of “media coverage or evening broadcasts”.

Moscow had handed over 1,000 bodies of fallen soldiers to Kyiv, while Ukraine had transferred 19 bodies to Russia, said Russian presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky, also Russia’s chief negotiator at the talks with the Ukrainian side.

Contact the writer at zhaohuanxin@chinadailyusa.com