Trump pledged U.S. protection for Ukraine and announced plans for trilateral talks with Putin, telling European leaders who flew overnight to Washington that Russia is ready to accept security guarantees.

The White House said Tuesday that President Donald Trump wants to respect the American taxpayer, and isn't interested in writing "blank checks" to support Ukraine.

There are inherent contradictions in the idea of the guarantees meant to prevent Russia from attacking Ukraine again.

US and European officials started work on bolstering Ukraine’s military, part of a package of security guarantees that will open a path to a landmark meeting between presidents Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelenskiy.