White House says Putin will meet with Zelensky. Russia hasn’t confirmed.

The White House said Tuesday that Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, projecting confidence that a summit between the warring leaders is on track even as the Kremlin was noncommittal about a meeting.

The Russian president agreed during a call with President Donald Trump to “begin the next phase of the peace process – a meeting between President Putin and President Zelenskyy,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Tuesday.

Earlier in the day, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov played down expectations of a swift bilateral meeting with Zelenskyy. Russia has not rejected bilateral or trilateral meetings, “but any contacts involving the heads of state need to be thoroughly prepared,” Lavrov said.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the White House remarks on preparations for a possible meeting.

The divergent characterizations of the plans highlighted the murky path forward for Ukraine peace talks, a day after Zelenskyy raced to Washington with top allies to prevent Trump from making concessions to Putin. European leaders left Washington pleased with security guarantees that Trump appeared willing to seek for Ukraine, but details about the role the United States would play in those protections – and whether Putin would agree to any of it – remained limited on Tuesday.

Trump said earlier Tuesday on Fox News that the United States would help defend Ukraine after its war with Russia but that he would not send ground troops. The United Kingdom and European countries, including France and Germany, want to have “boots on the ground,” Trump said.

“When it comes to security, they’re willing to put people on the ground,” Trump said, referring to the European nations. “We’re willing to help them with things, especially probably … by air because there’s nobody that has the kind of stuff we have.”

Leavitt echoed Trump’s interview comments during her briefing hours later, saying he has “definitively” ruled out sending U.S. soldiers to Ukraine. She described U.S. air support as an “option and a possibility.”

“The president understands security guarantees are crucially important to ensure a lasting peace, and he has directed his national security team to coordinate with our friends in Europe,” Leavitt said.

The issue of security guarantees for Ukraine – and potential U.S. involvement in them – has proved to be a sticking point as Trump works to broker peace between Ukraine and Russia.

European leaders have been encouraged that Trump appears open to a U.S. role in peacekeeping in Ukraine, but that could complicate negotiations with Russia, which has spent years working to counter increased military support for Ukraine by its allies.

After his day of meetings with European leaders, Trump posted on social media a message addressing the topic of security guarantees, saying they “would be provided by the various European Countries, with a coordination with the United States of America.”

Trump downplayed any tension over the arrangement in the Fox interview, saying he did not think it would be a “problem.”

The White House is reviewing a range of locations for a potential trilateral meeting between Trump, Putin and Zelenskyy, including the Hungarian capital of Budapest, a senior administration told the Washington Post. Trump said in a Truth Social post Tuesday that the trilateral meeting would follow a meeting between Putin and Zelensky.

The official cautioned that many countries are “trying to host” the meeting and that Washington was seeking a location that the warring parties can agree on. No final decision has been made, the official added, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss a diplomatic matter.

The consideration of Hungary, first reported by Politico, immediately came under criticism from Ukraine advocates given the views of its prime minister, Viktor Orban, the most Kremlin-friendly leader in Europe. Orban, who has maintained close relations with Putin even after his invasion of Ukraine in 2022, was the only European Union leader to refuse to endorse a joint statement this month declaring Ukraine’s right to decide its own future. He also recently declared Russia the winner of the war.

“The Ukrainians have lost the war. Russia has won this war,” Orban said in an interview with the “Patriot” YouTube channel last week. “The only question is when and under what circumstances will the West, who are behind the Ukrainians, admit that this has happened and what will result from all this.”

Leavitt said she was “not going to confirm or deny” reports that the White House is considering Budapest as a potential location for the meeting.

While it remains to be seen how specifically the U.S. will help with peacekeeping, Trump has been more clear in his opposition to giving Ukraine membership in NATO – and the collective defense benefits that come with it. Article 5 of the alliance says that an armed attack against one of its members is considered an attack against all of them.

“Who would want that?” Trump said. “If you were Russia, who would want to have your enemy, your opponent, sitting on your line?”

Trump appeared to be referring to Russia’s border, adding that Ukraine had previously served as a “buffer” between Russia and European countries.

Leavitt declined to clarify what other protections the administration is willing to offer Ukraine. Top administration officials over the weekend suggested that the United States and European countries would be able to offer guarantees similar to Article 5.

“These are very sensitive diplomatic discussions that are currently taking place literally as we speak,” Leavitt said. “So I will leave it to the national security team, and I’ll leave it to the president to have those private discussions with these leaders as we try to bring this war to an end.”

Trump confirmed that he excused himself toward the end of his meetings Monday with European leaders to call Putin to update him on their peace talks and propose a meeting between Putin and Zelensky. Trump said he thinks such a meeting has become possible because the two wartime leaders are perhaps “getting along a little better than I thought.”

While Trump said Putin “very happily” took his call, the U.S. president did not say how amenable Putin was to meeting with Zelensky. The Kremlin stopped short of backing that idea in remarks Monday to the news media.

Leavitt suggested the Putin-Zelensky meeting was a work in progress.

“I can assure you that the … Trump administration is working with both Russia and Ukraine to make that bilateral happen as we speak,” she told reporters at the briefing.

Trump said the U.S. would “find out” about Putin’s willingness to end the war in the coming days, but he said Zelensky also “has to show some flexibility.”

“They’re the ones that have to call the shots,” Trump told Fox. “We’re 7,000 miles away, in all fairness.”