‘The Times’: Trump says Ukraine can win back its land, but Putin is still smiling

Pic.: ‘The Times’

President Trump’s unexpected announcement that Ukraine can win back all of its land from Russia and “maybe even go further than that” has been welcomed in Kyiv as a long-awaited vote of confidence. The biggest smiles, however, were likely to have been in the Kremlin, ‘The Times’ notes.

Of all the head-spinning rhetorical reversals that Trump has made since his return to the White House, this was arguably the most startling. The US leader has previously called President Zelensky “a dictator”, accused him of starting the war and insisted that Ukraine must surrender some land in exchange for peace.

Yet after talks with Zelensky following a United Nations speech in which he urged the nations of the world to retreat behind their borders and reject cultural and ethnic diversity, Trump declared that the Ukrainian president was “a brave man” and that Russia was a “paper tiger”.

“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 in a social media post. He added: “We will continue to supply weapons to Nato for Nato to do what they want with them. Good luck to all!”

However, beyond the rhetoric and the good luck wishes, Trump offered no additional support for Ukraine. The United States had already agreed to sell weapons to Kyiv through NATO and there were no promises of additional US sanctions against Russia. There was also no mention of the peace talks between President Putin and Zelensky that Trump touted last month after the United States had rolled out the red carpet for the Russian leader at a summit in Alaska.

In Moscow, Trump’s comments were widely seen as a sign that the US leader no longer intends to try to resolve the war in Ukraine, the biggest conflict in Europe since the defeat of Nazi Germany. If that is true, and Trump does not simply flip his stance again in the coming days or weeks, then the Kremlin will have achieved one of its major policy goals in its relations with the United States.

Moscow has made no secret that its hopes for improved relations with Washington since Trump won a second term are based on a desire to carve the world up into spheres of influence. In Putin’s world view, Ukraine lies firmly in the Kremlin’s backyard and Kyiv has no right to ally itself with Russia’s adversaries.

“The United States is washing its hands [of the war],” Konstantin Malofeyev, a Russian media tycoon who has been an enthusiastic support of the war in Ukraine, wrote. “The EU will pay for everything. To put it even more simply: Trump sent Ukraine and Europe to fight against Russia, [with] weapons that they buy from the US.”

If Trump’s move to shift responsibility for defeating Russia solely on to Europe and Ukraine is to result in a victory for Kyiv, it will require an unprecedented effort by Britain, France and Germany, as well as other allies. Short of European boots on the ground in Ukraine, it is hard to see how Russia can be dislodged.

Dmitry Peskov, Putin’s spokesman, said on Wednesday: “The special military operation [in Ukraine] is one thing, but what’s happening around Russia is a war — and it needs to be won. This is the most intense phase of the war. It is truly pivotal. We must win it — for our children, our grandchildren, and their future.” He also rejected Trump’s description of Russia as a “paper tiger”, saying: “Russia is by no means a tiger. After all, Russia is more often associated with a bear — and there is no such thing as a paper bear.”

Putin will have taken note of Trump’s comment that Nato should shoot down Russian planes that violate the airspace of its member states, depending “on the circumstances”. Yet reading the Russian leader is equally as difficult and while the warning may restrain Putin’s attempts to probe the alliance’s eastern flank for weaknesses, it could also trigger an escalation by Moscow in a bid to find out exactly how serious Trump is about support for NATO.

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