Trump Makes U-Turn on Ukraine and Russia Policy

US president Donald Trump seemed to support a major reflection in the US policy in Ukraine, saying on Tuesday that he believed Kiev could boost all Ukraine “in its original form.”

The statement, which was held after a meeting with Ukrainian President Folodimir Zelinski in New York, is inconsistent with Trump’s previous belief that the war between Russia and Ukraine will end only with Ukraine to waive some lands.

US President Donald Trump seemed to support a major reflection in the US policy in Ukraine, saying on Tuesday that he believed Kiev could boost all Ukraine “in its original form.”

The statement, which was held after a meeting with Ukrainian President Folodimir Zelinski in New York, is inconsistent with Trump’s previous belief that the war between Russia and Ukraine will end only with Ukraine to waive some lands.

“I think Ukraine, with the support of the European Union, is in a position to fight and win all Ukraine in its original form,” Trump wrote on the social truth platform.

Trump also appears to indicate that Ukraine may eventually end taking Russian territory, as it did when it temporarily carries parts of the Russian Kursk region: “Ukraine will be able to restore its country in its original form, and who knows, perhaps even go further!”

It was not clear from his statement whether Trump meant the borders of Ukraine before 2014, which would include the Russian Crimea, or its borders before Russia’s extensive invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Russian forces hold about five Ukrainian lands, most of which were taken in the first months of gas.

The US President also criticized the Russian army as incompetent: “Russia was fighting without a goal for three and a half years of war that should have taken a real military force less than a week to win.”

Trump has not provided more direct American military support. He said: “We will continue to provide weapons to NATO to NATO to do what they want with them,” referring to a new scheme through which NATO members buy weapons from the United States and send them to Ukraine.

John Hervs, a former American ambassador in Kiev and director of the Eurasia Center at the Atlantic Council, said that Trump’s statement is “positive”. “Trump has realized that Russia does not inevitably win this war, and Ukraine does not work badly in the battlefield.”

Trump’s comments may reflect his increasing dissatisfaction with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who continued, despite his presence at Alaska’s summit in August by inviting Trump, in targeting Ukraine with large numbers of missiles and drones. In the wake of Trump’s meeting with Polish President Carole Noruki in early September, Russia also sent drones to Polish territory, and then last week, NATO Estonia accused three Russian aircraft of entering the airspace.

At the same time, the statement may also reflect an increasingly positive relationship with Zelinski, who was suspected of Trump during a February meeting at the White House.

However, Herbets said there are mixed signals from the Trump administration about its willingness to confront Russia. Trump responded to the Polish air area violations, for example, by saying that drones could have been there by “a mistake.”

“It is a way to say,” I do not need to do anything about it. “This is not a sign of power.”