The strengthened support from Trump, if it sticks, is a huge win for Zelenskyy, who has urged the American president to keep up the pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin to end his brutal war.
Soon after meeting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, US President Donald Trump said that he believed Ukraine could win back all territory lost to Russia. He said this in a dramatic shift from the US leader’s repeated calls for Kyiv to make concessions to end the war.
Taking to social media, Trump said, โI think Ukraine, with the support of the European Union, is in a position to fight and WIN all of Ukraine back in its original form.โ
He further said, “With time, patience, and the financial support of Europe and, in particular, NATO, the original borders from where this war started, is very much an option.โ
The strengthened support from Trump, if it sticks, is a huge win for Zelenskyy, who has urged the American president to keep up the pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin to end his brutal war.
A dramatic shift from Trump’s previous suggestions to Ukraine
The latest statement was a departure from Trump’s previous suggestions that Ukraine would never be able to reclaim all the territory that Russia has occupied since seizing the Crimean Peninsula in 2014. That had disheartened Zelenskyy, Europeans and Ukrainians and called into question the US commitment to UN principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity. But now, Trump’s view of the battlefield coincides more with Ukraine’s, Zelenskyy said.
Zelenskyy calls Trump a โgame changerโ
โTrump is a game changer by himself,โ Zelenskyy told reporters after their meeting.
Trump, going back to his 2024 campaign, insisted he would quickly end the war, but his peace efforts appear to have stalled following a diplomatic blitz last month, when he held a summit with Putin and a White House meeting with Zelenskyy and European allies.
Trump is open to imposing more sanctions on Russia
Trump has acknowledged, including in his UN speech to world leaders, that he thought a resolution to this conflict would be โthe easiestโ because he has had a good relationship with Putin. Trump said he is open to imposing more sanctions on Russia and urged Europe to join in.
โRussia has been fighting aimlessly for three and a half years a War that should have taken a Real Military Power less than a week to win,โ Trump wrote on social media. โThis is not distinguishing Russia. In fact, it is very much making them look like a paper tiger,โ he added.
Hereโs what Trump said at UNGA on Ukraine war
In his speech to the General Assembly, Trump said the war in Ukraine was making Russia โlook badโ because it was โsupposed to be a quick little skirmish.โ
โIt shows you what leadership is, what bad leadership can do to a country,โ he said. โThe only question now is how many lives will be needlessly lost on both sides.โ
Before meeting with Zelenskyy, Trump said the โbiggest progressโ toward ending the conflict โis that the Russian economy is terrible right now.โ Zelenskyy said he agreed with Trump’s call for European nations to further halt imports of Russian oil and natural gas.
With inputs from AP
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