Trump: Europe will 'take a lot of the burden' in providing security guarantees for Ukraine

"President Putin agreed that Russia would accept security guarantees for Ukraine. And this is one of the key points that we need to consider," Trump said Monday during a meeting with European leaders at the White House. "And, we're going to be considering that at the table. Also, like who will do what? Essentially, I'm optimistic that collectively we can reach an agreement that would deter any future aggression against Ukraine." 

"I think that the European nations are going to take a lot of the burden," Trump said. "We're going to help them, and we're going to make it very secure. We also need to discuss the possible exchanges of territory, taking into consideration the current line of contact. That means the war zone, the war line center. Pretty obvious. Very sad, actually, to look at them and negotiating positions."

Trump said Sunday that Ukraine could end the war immediately if it agreed to cede Crimea to Russia, and abandon its bid for NATO membership. Meanwhile, U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff also said Sunday that Putin has agreed to allow the U.S. and other European allies to provide additional protection for Ukraine, similar to protections included in NATO's Article 5 mutual defense clause.

Likewise, Trump said earlier Monday that he hadn't ruled out the possibility that U.S. troops could be dispatched to Ukraine following a peace negotiation to deter Russian aggression to support other European allies bolstering security for Ukraine. Although he refrained from sharing specific details, Trump said that the U.S. is "going to help them out also, we'll be involved." 

For his part, Zelenskyy said U.S. backing on security guarantees is critical to delivering stability to Ukraine. 

"Security in Ukraine depends on the United States and on you and on those leaders who are with us in our hearts," Zelenskyy said Monday. 

"We spoke about it and we will speak more about security guarantees," Zelenskyy said. "This is very important that the United States gives such strong signal and is ready for security guarantees." 

Meanwhile, French President Emmanuel Macron said that Europe is aware that it will shoulder much of the weight of responsibility tied to various security guarantees - and acknowledged it is necessary in order to preserve each respective country's safety.