US President Donald Trump (D) shakes the hand of his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky during a meeting in the Oval Office at the White House, August 18, 2025 in Washington (AFP / Mandel Ngan)
Donald Trump said on Tuesday that it was ready to provide air support as security guarantees to Ukraine in the event of a peace agreement with Russia, but excluded any American military presence on the ground, which would then return to Europeans.
For its part, Russia warned by the voice of its Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sergei Lavrov, that any potential peace agreement should guarantee its “security” and those of Russian -speaking inhabitants in Ukraine, a pretext already brandished to launch its invasion in February 2022.
“They are ready to send troops on the ground,” said the American president during an interview with Fox News, referring to European leaders encountered the day before to the White House.
He also added that he was “ready to help”, in particular via air support, but answered “no” to a question about sending American soldiers to the ground.
The American president, who wants to find a way out of war as soon as possible, received Ukrainian President on Monday, Volodymyr Zelensky, accompanied by European leaders, on Monday after his meeting in Alaska with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin on Make Monday.
All welcomed notable advances in the principle of offering security guarantees to Ukraine, which however remain to be put on paper, and says that the Russian president had accepted the principle of a summit with Mr. Zelensky in the coming weeks.
The Russian president proposed during his phone call with Mr. Trump on Moscow on Moscow on Monday, according to three sources close to the file.
But Volodymyr Zelensky refused, according to one of these sources.
French president, Emmanuel Macron, estimated that she should take place in Europe, for example in Switzerland, who said he was ready to offer “immunity” to the Russian president, despite his indictment before the International Criminal Court, provided he comes “for a peace conference”.
Donald Trump said that if everything was going well it would be followed by a tripartite meeting with himself.
– Reinsurance force –
French President Emmanuel Macron talks with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer (on the screen) during a video meeting of the “volunteer coalition” for Ukraine, August 19, 2025 at the Brégançon Fort in Bormes-les-Mimosas, in the south of France (Pool / Christophe Simon)
Meanwhile, the “coalition of volunteers”, around thirty mainly European countries supporting Ukraine, met on Tuesday by videoconferencing under the auspices of the British Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, and the French president, in order to account for discussions with MM. Trump and Zelensky.
The next step provides “that the planning teams meet their American counterparts in the coming days” aimed in particular “to prepare for the deployment of a reinsurance force if hostilities ended”, according to a spokesperson for the British Prime Minister.
For their part, the chiefs of staff of the NATO armies will meet in videoconference on Wednesday to evoke the conflict in Ukraine, announced the Atlantic alliance.
Ukraine considers that, even if an outcome is found in this war, Russia will still try to invade it.
In an interview with the American channel NBC News, Mr. Macron did not hide that he did not share the optimism of Donald Trump on the possibility of arriving at a peace agreement in Ukraine.
Vladimir Putin is “a predator, an ogre at our doors” who “needs to continue to eat (for) his own survival,” he said. “It is a threat to Europeans”.
– Territorial concessions –
Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, August 18, 2025 (Pool / Viacheslav Prokofiev)
The question of the territorial concessions required by Russia to Ukraine to put an end to the conflict remains the other great stranger.
Washington, like Europeans, assures that it must be adjusted directly between kyiv and Moscow.
In eastern Ukraine, which concentrates the worst fighting, the inhabitants admitted having little hope.
Vladimir Putin “violated all the agreements he signed, so we cannot trust him,” soldier Vitaly, 45, told AFP.
And if Ukraine gives up territories to have peace, Russia will attack again “in six months or a year,” he added.
Map of Ukraine indicating the territories claimed by Russia in the country (Donetsk, Lugansk, Zaporijjia and Kherson) and in Crimea (annexed in 2014), as well as the advance of Russian troops, according to data from the Institute for the Study of War and Aei’s Critical Threats Project at August 17, 2025 (AFP Pacheco)
The German Chancellor, Friedrich Merz, also present Monday at the White House, estimated that Ukraine should not be forced to make territorial concessions in the context of a possible peace agreement.
For Donald Trump, on the other hand, who called Mr. Zelensky to show “flexibility”, Ukraine will have to resolve it, in particular the Donbass.
“You know, a large part of the territory has been won over and this territory has been taken. Now they talk about Donbass, but Donbass, as you know, is currently 79% detained and controlled by Russia,” he said, adding: “We do not attack a nation which is ten times greater than oneself”.