The US is preparing to provide intelligence support and assist Europe in providing air defense to Ukraine after the war with Russia ends. Moscow has rejected any Western troop deployment to Ukraine as a condition for ending the conflict. 

According to Financial Times, senior US officials told their European counterparts that Washington was willing to assist Europe in providing security guarantees to Ukraine, “including intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR), command and control and air defence assets to enable any European-led deployment on the ground.”

European officials say they are only willing to deploy troops to Ukraine if the US provides additional support. Washington says it will support Europeans if they deploy tens of thousands of troops to Ukraine. 

Andriy Yermak, the Ukrainian president’s chief of staff, said the Europeans are willing to send four to five brigades. 

While President Donald Trump has ruled out sending US troops to Ukraine, he has said he is willing to provide air support to European forces. 

Moscow has ruled out any Western troop deployment to Ukraine as part of any peace deal ending the conflict. “We reaffirm our repeatedly stated position on our categorical rejection of any scenarios that envisage the appearance in Ukraine of a military contingent with the participation of NATO countries, which is fraught with an uncontrolled escalation of the conflict with unpredictable consequences,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement last week.

Trump made ending the war in Ukraine one of his top issues during the campaign. He pledged to end the conflict on his first day in office. Trump has struggled to bridge the gap between Russian President Putin and Ukrainian President Zelensky.

Putin is demanding territorial concessions and Ukrainian neutrality. Zelensky is refusing to cede any territory and is demanding Kiev’s Western backers provide significant security guarantees.