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President Donald Trump’s abrupt change in rhetoric on Ukraine, in which he declared it could retake all its territory with help from NATO, was warmly welcomed by Kyiv and quickly dismissed Wednesday by Moscow, particularly his calling the Russian military “a paper tiger” that had been “fighting aimlessly for three and a half years.”
The few early reactions trickling out of Moscow on Wednesday demonstrated how deeply Trump’s unexpectedly friendly appearance in New York alongside Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly vexed the Kremlin, which just weeks ago was gloating over Russian President Vladimir Putin’s warm reception in Alaska.
“Russia is in no way a tiger. Still, Russia is more compared with a bear. There are no paper bears,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said to local radio on Wednesday.
Peskov also suggested the motivation behind Trump’s push to halt European purchases of Russian oil and gas — which are helping fund Russia’s war machine — is tied to his desire to boost American sales.
At a later briefing with reporters, Peskov pushed back on Trump’s comments that the war is “aimless,” while still thanking Trump for his willingness to promote peace — and warning that Ukraine was in a dire position.
Kyiv is “trying to demonstrate to their sponsors in Europe and their handlers that they can fight, but they should not forget that with each passing day when the Ukrainian side refuses to negotiate, the negotiating position of the Ukrainian side will only worsen,” he said.
The outspoken former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev mocked Trump’s new position, saying he had been given a dose of “alternative reality,” and noted his often-changing views of the conflict.
“I have no doubt — he will come back. He always comes back,” Medvedev wrote about Trump on X. “The main thing is to radically change your point of view on various issues more often. And everything will be fine. That’s the essence of successful government through social media.”
Margarita Simonyan, who heads the Russian English-language state news channel RT, dismissed the U.S. president’s support for Zelensky as that of a carnival huckster.
“Trump debuts as the tarot card reader telling the thrice-divorced lady that she is going to meet that billionaire prince after all, as long as she buys the magic crystals,” she wrote on X.
European leaders, however, seized on Trump’s about-face, which matches their long-stated support for Ukraine’s struggle against the 2022 full-scale Russian invasion. Trump’s statements Wednesday acknowledged Russia’s inability to make significant ground advances. He praised Ukraine’s military for holding off the much larger Russian army for so long.
“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 said on Truth Social. “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,” he said.
Olof Gill, a European Union spokesman, said Wednesday that the bloc welcomed Trump’s engagement, describing it as “now so strong and meaningful as regards coordinated efforts to try to end Russia’s aggression.”
Although Russia has made some small gains in recent months, the results of the summer offensive were limited. Russia has still failed to take the eastern city of Pokrovsk, after its more than year-long quest to seize it.
When asked on Fox News if he thought Trump’s position on the war had changed, Zelensky replied he believed it had — and that Trump appeared to understand that the two countries could not “swap territory.”
“God bless, I really count on this,” he said. In the past, Trump had talked about the need for territorial swaps in any peace agreement.
Zelensky has touted in recent days a small Ukrainian counteroffensive in the eastern Donetsk region. At the same time, Ukraine has lost some territory in other regions, including in Zaporizhzhia and Dnipropetrovsk. Ukrainian commander in chief Oleksandr Syrsky dismissed two commanders responsible for defending those areas.
“We agree. Ukraine is indeed in a position to fight and WIN all of Ukraine back in its original form,” Jonatan Vseviov, secretary general of Estonia’s Foreign Ministry, wrote on X in response to Trump’s assertion that Ukraine could win the war.
Estonian lawmaker Marko Mihkelson, who chairs his Parliament’s foreign affairs committee, shared a post from the White House that quoted Trump describing Zelensky as “a brave man” who is “putting up one hell of a fight.” The post included an image of Zelensky laughing next to Trump on Tuesday — a stunning contrast to Trump and Vice President JD Vance’s dressing down of Zelensky in the Oval Office in February.
“Incredible turnaround. Now actions should follow,” Mihkelson wrote.
Zelensky’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, tweeted a bicep emoji in response to the White House post.
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