UNITED NATIONS (AP) — President Donald Trump stated Tuesday that he believed Ukraine might win again all territory misplaced to Russia, a dramatic shift from the U.S. chief’s repeated requires Kyiv to make concessions to finish the conflict.
Trump posted on social media quickly after assembly with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the sidelines of the United Nations Common Meeting gathering of world leaders.
“I 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,” Trump wrote. “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.”
The strengthened assist from Trump, if it sticks, is a large win for Zelenskyy, who has urged the American president to sustain the strain on Russian President Vladimir Putin to finish his conflict. It was a departure from Trump’s earlier solutions that Ukraine would by no means be capable to reclaim all of the territory that Russia has occupied since seizing the Crimean Peninsula in 2014.
That had disheartened Zelenskyy, Europeans and Ukrainians and known as into query the U.S. dedication to U.N. rules of sovereignty and territorial integrity. However now, Trump’s view of the battlefield coincides extra with Ukraine’s, Zelenskyy stated.
“Trump is a game changer by himself,” Zelenskyy instructed reporters after their assembly.
BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI through Getty Photos
Trump needles Russia about conflict in Ukraine
Trump, going again to his 2024 marketing campaign, insisted he would rapidly finish the conflict, however his peace efforts seem to have stalled following a diplomatic blitz final month, when he held a summit with Putin and a White Home assembly with Zelenskyy and European allies.
Trump has acknowledged, together with in his U.N. speech to world leaders, that he thought a decision to this battle can be “the easiest” as a result of he has had an excellent relationship with Putin. Trump stated he’s open to imposing extra sanctions on Russia and urged Europe to hitch in.
“Russia 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,” Trump wrote on social media. “This is not distinguishing Russia. In fact, it is very much making them look like ‘a paper tiger.’”
In his speech to the Common Meeting, Trump stated the conflict in Ukraine was making Russia “look bad” as a result of it was “supposed to be a quick little skirmish.”
“It shows you what leadership is, what bad leadership can do to a country,” he stated. “The only question now is how many lives will be needlessly lost on both sides.”
Earlier than assembly with Zelenskyy, Trump stated the “biggest progress” towards ending the battle “is that the Russian economy is terrible right now.” Zelenskyy stated he agreed with Trump’s name for European nations to additional halt imports of Russian oil and pure gasoline.
“We have great respect for the fight that Ukraine is putting up,” Trump instructed Zelenskyy, who replied that he had “good news” from the battlefield.
How Trump’s stance has shifted on Ukraine
Earlier than his Alaska summit with Putin final month, Trump repeated that any decision to the conflict would require “some land swapping.”
In talks with Zelenskyy and Europeans simply afterward, Trump stated Putin reiterated that he needs the Donetsk and Luhansk areas that make up the Donbas, in keeping with European officers. Days later, Zelenskyy and distinguished European leaders got here to the White Home.
Following these conferences, Trump introduced he was arranging for direct talks between Putin and Zelenskyy. However Putin hasn’t proven any curiosity in assembly with Zelenskyy and Moscow has solely intensified its bombardment of Ukraine.
European leaders in addition to American lawmakers, together with some Republican allies of Trump, have urged the president to dial up stronger sanctions on Russia.
“In the event that Russia is not ready to make a deal to end the war, then the United States is fully prepared to impose a very strong round of powerful tariffs, which would stop the bloodshed, I believe, very quickly,” Trump instructed the Common Meeting.
Nonetheless, he repeated his requires Europe to “step it up” and cease shopping for Russian oil, the engine feeding Putin’s conflict machine.
Push for sanctions and reducing off Russian oil
European Fee President Ursula von der Leyen stated earlier than assembly with Trump that Europe can be imposing extra sanctions and tariffs on Russia and that the bloc can be additional lowering its imports of Russian vitality.
Zelenskyy, talking at a particular U.N. Safety Council session on Ukraine, additionally appealed for stronger U.S. strain on Russia.
“Moscow fears America and always pays attention to it,” stated Zelenskyy, who has had strained ties with Trump in earlier sitdowns and has beforehand confronted White Home accusations that he was partly responsible for Russia’s invasion in 2022.
Russia denigrated the Safety Council assembly as simply the New York cease on the planet tour of a “former actor,” a reference to Zelenskyy.
“There is no added value for the establishment of peace in Ukraine generated from today’s meeting,” stated Dmitry Polyanskiy, Russia’s deputy ambassador to the U.N. “This will merely become yet another shameful episode in the market of hypocrisy.”
European leaders have supported Zelenskyy’s diplomatic efforts, with some alarmed by the chance that the conflict might unfold past Ukraine as they’re dealing with what they’ve known as Russian provocations.
“I welcome the fact that the president of the United States believes in Ukraine’s ability not only to hold the course” however to prevail, French President Emmanuel Macron stated.
NATO allies will maintain formal consultations at Estonia’s request on Tuesday, after the Baltic nation stated three Russian fighter jets entered its airspace final week with out authorization.
Trump stated he would again NATO nations that select to shoot down intruding Russian planes, however stated direct U.S. involvement would rely on the circumstances.
New strikes in Ukraine as toll of conflict grows
The total-scale conflict, which started on Feb. 24, 2022, is taking a heavy toll on Ukrainian civilians. Russia stated it shot down three dozen Ukrainian drones heading towards Moscow, whereas Ukraine stated Russian missiles, drones and bombs killed at the very least two civilians.
The U.N. Workplace of the Excessive Commissioner for Human Rights additionally stated this month that Ukrainian civilian casualties elevated by 40% within the first eight months of this 12 months in contrast with 2024, as Russia escalated its long-range missile and localized drone strikes.
A U.N. Human Rights Workplace report launched Tuesday described the dire state of affairs of 1000’s of civilians detained by Russia in areas of Ukraine it has captured.
“Russian authorities have subjected Ukrainian civilian detainees in occupied territory to torture and ill-treatment, including sexual violence, in a widespread and systematic manner,” the report stated.
Novikov reported from Kyiv, Ukraine. AP reporters Hanna Arhirova in Kyiv, Ukraine, and Farnoush Amiri on the United Nations contributed to this report.
