President Donald Trump was incorrect when he said that Russia will accept European peacekeeping troops in Ukraine, the Kremlin signaled Tuesday.
While Trump said Monday during a White House meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron that he had "specifically asked" Russian President Vladimir Putin about peacekeepers and that Putin "has no problem with it," the Kremlin contradicted those comments early Tuesday.
When asked about Trump's remarks in a media call, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters that "the Russian foreign minister has already said everything about it, I've got nothing to add."
Peskov was referring to comments Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov made last week in a news conference following talks in Saudi Arabia with Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Lavrov said that “the deployment of troops ... [from] NATO countries, but under a foreign flag, under the flag of the European Union or under national flags ... is, of course, unacceptable to us.”
Moscow's denial of Trump's claim that Putin would accept European peacekeeping troops is the latest twist in relations between the Trump administration, America's historical European allies and Putin — who until a recent and rapid warming in relations with Washington had been viewed as a global pariah.
That rapprochement between America and Russia has coincided — and been a cause of — the splintering of Washington's relationship with Europe and the sidelining of Ukraine and its continental allies from so-far bilateral peace talks between the two superpowers.
While Trump and Macron renewed their friendly rapport, their Oval Office meeting was emblematic of the transatlantic rift emerging over Ukraine and a host of other issues, including tariffs, as the French president became the first European leader to visit the White House since Trump began his second term.
On the third anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Macron warned Trump to be “careful” in his negotiations with Putin. The two also appeared to disagree over who was to blame for the war, as well as Europe's financial contributions to Ukraine.
After Trump said that Europe, unlike the U.S., would get back the money it had given Ukraine in military aid, Macron said “No, in fact, to be frank, we paid 60% of the total,” adding that “it was through, like the U.S., loans, guarantees, grants, and we provided real money, to be clear.”
“If you believe that, it’s OK with me,” Trump replied, later saying that the U.S. and Ukraine were “very close to a final deal” for his administration to access Ukraine's rare-earth metals deposits as a way to recoup some aid, even after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy last week rejected a U.S. demand for $500 billion in minerals.
Back in Ukraine, Zelenskyy's troops were similarly circumspect about the prospect of a rare-earth and precious metals deal heavily weighted toward the Trump administration clawing back some of the funds that the U.S. has given to Ukraine since Russian troops invaded.
At first, the money “was announced as a humanitarian aid,” Valentyn, an ex-pastry chef and now a tank commander in the Ukrainian military, told NBC News on Monday. “But after Trump became a president, he has started to set his conditions, which we don’t accept.”
"I’d [like] to talk about Trump — it’s politics. If we pay attention to everything, it’s easy to give up. If we give up, we lose all our borders," added Valentyn, who asked that only his first name or call sign be used in accordance with military protocol.
Macron responded to Trump's comments about peacekeepers later Monday in an interview with Fox News, saying that “we want peace. And I think the initiative of President Trump is a very positive one. But my message was to say be careful because we need something substantial for Ukraine.”
Lavrov and Rubio were expected to meet again in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, this week to enter negotiations over Ukraine — again without Kyiv's presence.
“Don’t worry. Kiev will be invited to the negotiating table in due time,” Russia’s permanent representative to international organizations in Vienna, Mikhail Ulyanov, said Monday, according to the Russian state news agency Tass.
The latest evidence of the fracturing in relations between Europe and the U.S., Trump’s meeting with Macron came shortly after the U.S. opposed a United Nations resolution by Ukraine calling for Russia’s withdrawal from internationally recognized borders.
The U.S. instead brought its own resolution, from which it ended up abstaining after European nations won three amendments to it.
Before his spokesperson dismissed the idea of European boots on the ground in Ukraine, Putin told a state media reporter Monday that "we would only welcome" Europe’s involvement in negotiations.
Meanwhile, all of Ukraine was under air raid alerts early Tuesday after the country's air force warned of Russian missile attacks, which prompted scrambling of Polish aircraft and of other allies over Polish airspace.
“The war is shifting from the ground operations to the air battles,” Valentyn said.
Richard Engel reported from Kyiv, Ukraine and Mithil Aggarwal reported from London.
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