By Idrees Ali, Jonathan Landay and Sabine Siebold
(Reuters) -U.S. and European military planners have begun exploring post-conflict security guarantees for Ukraine, U.S. officials and sources told Reuters on Tuesday, following President Donald Trump’s pledge to help protect the country under any deal to end Russia’s war.
Ukraine and its European allies have been buoyed by Trump’s promise during a summit on Monday of security guarantees for Kyiv, but many questions remain unanswered.
Officials told Reuters that the Pentagon is carrying out planning exercises on the support Washington could offer beyond providing weapons.
But they cautioned that it would take time for U.S. and European planners to determine what would be both militarily feasible and acceptable to the Kremlin.
One option was sending European forces to Ukraine but putting the U.S. in charge of their command and control, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. The sources added that the troops would not be under a NATO banner but operate under their own nations’ flags.
The Pentagon and NATO did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the idea.
In a press briefing, the White House said that the United States could help coordinate a security guarantee for Ukraine.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry has ruled out the deployment of troops from NATO countries to help secure a peace deal.
POSSIBLE U.S. AIR SUPPORT
Trump has publicly ruled out deploying U.S. troops in Ukraine but on Tuesday appeared to leave the door open to other U.S. military involvement.
In an interview with Fox News “Fox & Friends” program, he suggested Washington could provide air support to Ukraine.
“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 because nobody has stuff we have, really they don’t have,” Trump said.
He did not provide further details.
U.S. air support could come in a variety of ways including providing more air defense systems to Ukraine and enforcing a no-fly zone with U.S. fighter jets.
Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of its neighbor in 2022, the United States has shipped billions of dollars worth of weapons and munitions to Kyiv.
The Trump administration briefly halted those weapons shipments, including after a contentious White House meeting between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in February and again in July.
Shipments have resumed and Trump has pledged to send weapons, primarily defensive ones, to help the war-torn country.
NATO MILITARY LEADERS TO MEET
NATO military chiefs will focus on Ukraine and the way forward when they meet virtually on Wednesday, a conference first reported by Reuters.
U.S. Air Force General Alexus Grynkewich, who also oversees NATO operations in Europe, will brief the chiefs of defense on the Alaska meeting between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin last week.
A U.S. official speaking on condition of anonymity said U.S. General Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was expected to attend the meeting.
The official added that Caine would meet with some of his European counterparts in Washington on Tuesday evening.
Trump has pressed for a quick end to Europe’s deadliest war in 80 years, and Kyiv and its allies have worried he could seek to force an agreement on Russia’s terms after the president last week rolled out the red carpet for Putin.
Russia says it is engaged in a “special military operation” in Ukraine to protect its national security, claiming NATO’s eastward expansion and Western military support for Ukraine pose existential threats. Kyiv and its Western allies say the invasion is an imperial-style land grab.
(Reporting by Idrees Ali in Toronto, Jonathan Landay in Washington D.C. and Sabine Siebold in Berlin; Editing by Rod Nickel, Mark Porter, David Gregorio, Don Durfee and Cynthia Osterman)
Disclaimer: This report is auto generated from the Reuters news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.