In main shift, Trump says Ukraine can win again all territory from Russia | United Nations News | USAEMALL.com

United States President Donald Trump says he believes Ukraine, with the support of the European Union and NATO, could win back all of the territory Russia has captured since its invasion more than three years ago, in a dramatic shift in his policy on Ukraine.

“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,” Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform after his meeting on Tuesday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

They met on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly. He had previously said both Kyiv and Moscow would have to cede land to end the war. Zelenskyy and his European allies have been opposed to Trump’s suggestion of territorial compromise to achieve peace.

In the post, Trump criticised Russia’s prosecution of the conflict, saying it had been fighting “aimlessly” in a war that a “real military power” would have won in “less than a week”.

Trump also dismissed Russia as a “paper tiger”, saying President Vladimir “Putin and Russia are in BIG Economic trouble, and this is the time for Ukraine to act.”

Russia has captured nearly 20 percent of Ukraine since it invaded in February 2022. Moscow annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula in 2014 and considers it to be outside the scope of its invasion.

The US president has previously shown lukewarm support for Zelenskyy, with whom he had a televised Oval Office bust-up in February, during which he told the Ukrainian, “you don’t have the cards” to achieve a good outcome from Russia.

But during their meeting on Tuesday, Trump said he had “great respect for the fight that Ukraine is putting up. It’s pretty amazing actually.”

Trump could be a ‘game-changer’

Zelenskyy thanked Trump for his “personal efforts to stop this war”.

After their meeting, the Ukrainian president said there was an understanding that Trump was ready to provide security guarantees for Ukraine after the war ends and added that Trump could be a “game-changer” for Ukraine.

“All of us, we understand that President Trump is ready to give Ukraine security guarantees after this war will finish,” Zelenskyy told reporters.

Trump, who had been critical of his predecessor Joe Biden’s Ukraine policy, has made efforts to stop the war since he took office in January. During his campaign, he had promised to end the war in the first 24 hours of being sworn in. He initially blamed Ukraine for the war, but after his August summit with Putin in Alaska failed to make headway, he has expressed his frustration, saying the Russian leader has let him down.

Reporting from UN headquarters in New York, Al Jazeera’s diplomatic editor James Bays said Trump’s post represents a real change in the US position because what Zelenskyy has asked for from day one is for Ukraine to take back all of its territory and Trump had said it was not possible.

“We seem to have a complete change in the US position here. We had that big summit between Trump and Putin that took place in Alaska, and they were talking about some sort of peace deal. Now there is talk about a military option where potentially Ukraine can take back all of its territorial area and win the war,” he said.

Bays added that when the news of Trump’s Truth Social post on Ukraine broke at UN headquarters, many European foreign ministers and diplomats were surprised and didn’t know this change in US policy towards Ukraine was coming, but they have welcomed it.

Besides Ukraine, Trump has also appeared to come out in favour of a robust NATO response to any future incursions as he spoke to reporters at the General Assembly.

Asked whether he believed NATO countries should shoot down Russian aircraft that enter their airspace, he told reporters: “Yes, I do.”

Trump, however, deflected questions about whether he believed Putin was still a reliable negotiating partner as Moscow’s attacks on Ukraine continue.

“I’ll let you know in about a month from now, OK?” Trump said when asked if he still trusted Putin.

The 79-year-old Republican has previously and repeatedly given deadlines of two weeks to make a decision on whether to take new steps against Russia, including sanctions.

Tensions between Russia and Europe over Ukraine have escalated with a recent spate of aerial violations.

NATO scrambled jets after three Russian MiG-31 fighters breached Estonian airspace on Friday for 12 minutes, prompting Estonia to call for a meeting of the UN Security Council and talks with NATO allies.

Fellow NATO member Poland said earlier this month that Russian drones had repeatedly violated its airspace during an attack on Ukraine, in what Warsaw called an “act of aggression”.

NATO warned Russia on Tuesday that it would use “all necessary military and nonmilitary tools” to defend itself as it condemned Moscow for violating Estonian airspace in “a pattern of increasingly irresponsible behaviour”.