President Donald Trump publicly ruled out having "American boots on the ground" to help Ukraine's defense from Russia after meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European allies at the White House on Monday (August 18).

Trump claimed that Americans had "my assurance" that he wouldn't send U.S. military forces to Ukraine while appearing on FOX & Friends Tuesday (August 19) morning.

“Well, you have my assurance,” Trump. “I’m president and I’m just trying to stop people from being killed.”

The president did, however, confirmed that the United States would support the Europeans' efforts to provide Ukraine with security

“We’re willing to help them with things, especially, probably, if you could talk about by air, because there’s nobody has the kind of stuff we have,” Trump said.

Trump reportedly called Russian President Vladimir Putin, who “agreed that there would be a meeting between the Russian president and the Ukrainian president within the next two weeks,” during a pause in discussions with the European leaders, according to German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. Trump reportedly proposed that a meeting between the two leaders was necessary for peace negotiations to "truly begin" three-and-a-half years after Russia invaded Ukraine, Merz added.

“We don’t know whether the Russian president will have the courage to attend such a summit. Therefore, persuasion is needed,” he said.

Trump said he was "very happy" with the progress made during Monday's discussion with Zelenskyy and the other European leaders, which took place three days after his summit with Putin in Alaska last Friday (August 15).

"Everyone is very happy about the possibility of PEACE for Russia/Ukraine," Trump wrote on his Truth Social account. "At the conclusion of the meetings, I called President Putin, and began the arrangements for a meeting, at a location to be determined, between President Putin and President Zelenskyy. After that meeting takes place, we will have a Trilat, which would be the two Presidents, plus myself. Again, this was a very good, early step for a War that has been going on for almost four years. Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, are coordinating with Russia and Ukraine. Thank you for your attention to this matter!

Armstrong & Getty