US President Donald Trump appears to be taking a fresh stance on Russia’s war against Ukraine following a meeting he held with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York on Tuesday.
In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump wrote “I think Ukraine, with the support of the European Union ... would be able to take back their Country in its original form and, who knows, maybe even go further than that!” He added that “Putin and Russia are in BIG Economic trouble, and this is the time for Ukraine to act”.
Trump said that Washington would “continue to supply weapons to NATO for NATO to do what they want with them — including transferring them to Ukraine”. He said Russia had been “fighting aimlessly for three and a half years”, having said in the meeting that Moscow should have stopped fighting earlier.
Writing on X after their meeting, Zelensky said that Trump now appeared to trust him more than he trusted Putin, adding that he “clearly understands the situation and is well-informed about all aspects of this war ”. Trump also told Zelensky that he would discuss providing security guarantees to Ukraine once the war came to an end, while Zelensky added that he highly appreciated Trump’s “resolve to help end this war”.
Despite originally pledging to end the Russia-Ukraine war within 24 hours of taking office and initially appearing to be far more sympathetic to Vladimir Putin than to Zelensky, Trump has grown increasingly exasperated with the Russian lack of interest in declaring a ceasefire, which was followed by a fruitless summit between Trump and Putin in Alaska last month.
A coordinated attempt by European leaders to shift Trump’s position on Ukraine in recent months also appears to have had an effect, not least a one-to-one meeting with King Charles in the UK during Trump’s state visit to the country last week, during which the British monarch is believed to have made a case for continued US support for Kyiv.