Trump, Russia Share Conflicting Views on European Peacekeepers in Ukraine

(Left) U.S. President Donald Trump in the East Room at the White House in Washington on Feb. 24, 2025; (Right) Russian President Vladimir Putin gives a speech at the Kremlin in Moscow on Feb. 23, 2025. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images; Alexander Kazakov/Pool/AFP via Getty Images

The White House and the Kremlin have shared conflicting statements in recent days about the prospect of European troops serving as peacekeepers in Ukraine as part of an eventual settlement to end the ongoing Russia–Ukraine conflict.

While meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron at the White House on Feb. 24, President Donald Trump told reporters that European troops could be sent to Ukraine to help enforce a final peace settlement. Trump said he'd spoken to Russian President Vladimir Putin about the idea and insisted the Russian leader “has no problem with it.”

Despite Trump’s assurances this week, the Russian government has spoken in opposition to a European troop deployment to Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has suggested a range of security guarantees to backstop an eventual peace settlement, including membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the formation of a multi-nation European military force.

European leaders have also begun signaling a willingness to deploy troops from their respective countries to Ukraine as part of this peacekeeping force.

Earlier this month, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth signaled the Trump administration’s opposition to Ukraine entering the NATO alliance and insisted that any European peacekeeping force in Ukraine must exist outside the scope of NATO’s Article 5, which calls for a collective alliance response if any NATO member is attacked.

Following a meeting between U.S. and Russian representatives in Saudi Arabia on Feb. 18, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov reiterated Russia’s opposition to Ukraine entering NATO. Lavrov also expressed opposition to NATO member nations deploying peacekeeping forces to Ukraine, even outside the scope of NATO Article 5.

“The appearance of troops of the armed forces from the same NATO countries but under a foreign flag, under the flag of the European Union, or under national flags does not change anything,” Lavrov told reporters at a press conference following the meeting in Saudi Arabia.

Lavrov reiterated his opposition to the idea of European troops while speaking with reporters at a press conference in Qatar on Feb. 26.

Discussing Trump’s comments from earlier in the week, the Russian foreign minister said it was his understanding that third-nation troops would only deploy to Ukraine if both Ukraine and Russia agreed to their presence.

“Nobody has asked us about this,” he said.

The Epoch Times contacted the White House for further details about proposals for a peacekeeping force to backstop an eventual peace settlement in Ukraine. The White House did not respond by publication time.

In his Wednesday press comments, Lavrov alleged France and the United Kingdom are leading the push to deploy European troops inside Ukraine to “further fuel the conflict and to stop any attempts to calm it down.”

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is scheduled to meet with Trump at the White House on Feb. 27. Starmer has expressed a willingness to deploy his country’s troops as peacekeepers in Ukraine but has also called for the United States to provide additional layers of security guarantees to bolster an eventual peace deal.