President Trump’s Republican allies are putting pressure on him not to entangle the U.S. militarily in Ukraine after he signaled an openness to helping craft security guarantees for the embattled nation in its war against Russian aggression.
Trump and the White House on Tuesday insisted the U.S. would not put boots on the ground in Ukraine but floated the idea of providing air support using U.S. pilots and warplanes.
That came after a meeting on Monday at the White House with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and seven other European leaders, during which they discussed security guarantees for Kyiv in lieu of allowing it into NATO, a red line for Russian President Vladimir Putin.
While the summit resulted in few specifics about what those security guarantees would entail, at one point a reporter asked Trump if the U.S. would send troops to Ukraine. Trump didn’t answer directly but said the U.S. would “help them out.”
That, combined with special envoy Steve Witkoff saying the U.S. could participate in “Article 5-like protections” for Ukraine, has set off alarm bells for some of Trump’s “America First” supporters.
Top allies are warning him not to go too far, citing a key MAGA tenet of not getting involved in any lengthy conflicts or “forever wars.”
“I’d have to look at what the responsibilities would be. We don’t want another war,” Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) told reporters at the Capitol on Tuesday. “People in this country, they can’t fathom that after 20 years of war over in the Middle East and then getting into another. I know the president’s not into that, but we don’t want anything to happen in terms of having to fight and lose more lives.”
When asked how big of an ask that would be to constituents and voters, the Alabama senator — a top MAGA supporter — was blunt.
“It would be an impossible sell,” said Tuberville, who is currently running to become governor of his home state. “The American people aren’t going to go for it, I’m just going to tell you that right now. The people in Alabama would be definitely against it. … I know President Trump’s trying to do the right thing, but people in Europe have to take responsibility for this.”
“President Trump enjoys taking over and trying to help, but he knows he can only go so far with all this. … [He’s] trying to do what’s right for us,” Tuberville added. “But there’s no appetite for war or us getting involved with this anyway with troops on the ground that would actually fight. We’re talking about security, which might be different.”
Pressed during a phone interview with “Fox & Friends” on Tuesday morning about any “assurances” he could make that there will not be any U.S. troops on the ground in Ukraine as part of any deal, Trump sought to quell any eruption by supporters.
“Well, you have my assurance, and I’m president,” he said, suggesting that France, Germany and Great Britain might do so instead.
Trump’s latest remarks came a day after marathon meetings with the European cohort, during which Zelensky specifically referenced progress toward a deal on security guarantees. They are among the most prominent Ukrainian demands for any deal that may include ceding territory to the Russians.
Zelensky also noted that as part of a potential security guarantee agreement, Kyiv would purchase $90 billion in American weapons, including sophisticated systems for air-defense support and warplanes. The U.S. would buy Ukrainian drones in return.
Some of Trump’s top supporters almost immediately warned him against getting involved militarily.
“Right now, it’s all predicated on American cash, American arms, and now they’re going to need American involvement,” former White House strategist and conservative firebrand Steve Bannon said on his radio show Monday, adding that European leaders and Senate GOP hawks cannot be trusted on this issue.
Bannon said the group is “trying to get America sucked into a deep involvement” in the region.
“These are tripwires,” Bannon said. “This is where things go from regional conflicts to world wars.”
The battle also marks the latest one in which Trump has had to straddle the concerns of key MAGA figures. He has had to manage similar situations in Iran after the U.S. struck against their nuclear capabilities and backed Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza.
Jack Posobiec, a right-wing activist and editor at Human Events, also pressed White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt about the security guarantees being discussed.
“The president understands the security guarantees are crucially important to ensure a lasting peace,” Leavitt said at Tuesday’s press briefing. “He has directed his national security team to coordinate with our friends in Europe, and also to continue to cooperate and discuss these matters with Ukraine and Russia as well.”
The Ukrainians are seeking security guarantees akin to those afforded to NATO nations via Article 5, which Witkoff, Trump’s envoy to the Middle East and Ukraine, floated over the weekend. That would potentially draw the U.S. into a larger conflict if Moscow attacked the peacekeeping effort.
Russia has vociferously objected to security guarantees even though Trump indicated recently that Putin would be open to the idea of a peacekeeping force by NATO nations in eastern Ukraine.
“We reiterate our longstanding position of unequivocally rejecting any scenarios involving the deployment of NATO military contingents in Ukraine, as this risks uncontrollable escalation with unpredictable consequences,” said Maria Zakharova, a spokesperson for the Russian Foreign Ministry.
Trump and European leaders are expected to continue discussion in the coming days in a bid to keep up the momentum.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio is set to head up a U.S.-European-Ukrainian commission to draft a proposal of potential security guarantees as part of a final accord, and Trump is seeking a meeting with both Putin and Zelensky.
