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During a visit to the White House by the British prime minister, President Trump refused to to pledge U.S. military support for a peacekeeping force for Ukraine.
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Trump Says He Believes Putin Will Not Violate Any Ukraine Peace Deal
During a meeting with Prime Minister Keir Starmer of Britain, President Trump said repeatedly that he trusted President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia not to violate the terms of whatever peace deal that might soon be reached to end the war in Ukraine.
Reporter: “Mr. President, what would you be willing to do if Vladimir Putin did not?” “If he did not what?” “If he did not stick to the terms of any deal on Ukraine because he has a history of not sticking to his word when it comes to international agreements?” “I think he’ll keep his word, I think — I think he’s — I’ve spoken to him. I’ve known him for a long time now. When we make a deal, I think the deal is going to hold. Now they’re going to have security. You’re going to have security. You’re going to have soldiers. I know France wants to be there. He’s — the president has said he wants to have soldiers there. I don’t think we’re going to even be necessary, but I don’t think there’ll be any problem with keeping the deal with the security.” “If there’s a deal in, we’ve got to make sure it’s a deal that lasts. And that is not temporary — that lasts. And that’s why we need to make sure that it’s secure. And we’ve went in and said, we’ll play our part and we’ve talked, and we will talk about how we work with yourself, Mr. President, to ensure that this deal is something which is not violated because it’s very important.” “It sounds as though one of you completely trusts President Putin, and one of you doesn’t trust him an inch. Have I got that right? Why do you trust him?” “Look it’s trust and verify, let’s call it that. And I think we both can be that way. You have to verify because you never know what’s going to happen.”
- Feb. 27, 2025Updated 6:59 p.m. ET
President Trump said Thursday that he trusted President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia not to violate the terms of a potential peace deal with Ukraine, even as he refused to pledge U.S. military support for a peacekeeping force.
“I think he’ll keep his word,” Mr. Trump said of Mr. Putin as he hosted Britain’s prime minister, Keir Starmer, at the White House.
Of Mr. Putin, the president said, “I’ve known him for a long time now.”
Mr. Trump’s comments underscored his embrace of Mr. Putin just a day before Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, is scheduled to arrive in Washington to finalize a deal to share revenue from mineral sources with the United States. Mr. Trump has pushed for access to Ukraine’s minerals to make up for billions of dollars in military and humanitarian aid the United States has delivered to Ukraine over three years.
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In the opening weeks of his presidency, Mr. Trump has ended the diplomatic isolation of Russia, falsely accused Ukraine of starting the war with Russia and repeatedly disparaged Mr. Zelensky, including by calling him a “dictator.” He appeared to change his tune on Thursday, however, predicting that the two of them would have a good in-person meeting.
“I have a lot of respect for him,” Mr. Trump said, although he dodged a question about whether he would apologize to Mr. Zelensky on Friday for the “dictator” comment.
