President Trump Meeting with President Zelensky – Expert Commentary Available

“The most important thing President Trump can do at today’s meeting is clarify that the United States is not going to be giving anything that could be called “security guarantees” to Ukraine. The administration’s messaging has been muddled on this point, and it needs to be made crystal clear.

On the Sunday shows, administration officials issued an array of conflicting messages. Secretary of State Marco Rubio argued that “life in America on a daily basis will be largely unaffected, whether there’s peace in Ukraine or not. That’s just a fact.” On the other hand, presidential envoy Steve Witkoff claimed that the United States and Russia in Alaska were able to “get an agreement that the United States could offer Article 5 protection” to Ukraine.

None of this adds up. NATO membership, or “Article 5 protection” has been a red line for Russia since before the war started. And if life in America on a daily basis will be largely unaffected by war in Ukraine, why would the United States make a paper commitment to fight Russia on behalf of Ukraine?

Less than a year ago, Trump was asked, “Can you guarantee that no matter what, you’re not going to put American boots on the ground in Ukraine? Is that something you can say definitively?” He responded by saying “I guarantee it. I wouldn’t do it.” His predecessor Joe Biden revealed that he, too, did not see an interest in Ukraine worth going to war with Russia over. As he noted repeatedly, the United States and Russia fighting in Ukraine would be “World War III.”

For these reasons, a paper commitment to Ukraine’s security would be inherently non-credible, while risking a brutal and costly war that is not in the US interest. Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky and the group of European leaders with him all will be pleading for Trump to say, “security guarantee.” Not only should Trump decline, he should make perfectly clear—it’s not happening.”