U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday (September 23, 2025) that Ukraine can win back all territory lost to Russia, a dramatic shift from the U.S. leader’s call on Kyiv to make concessions.
Mr. Trump offered his position in a social media posting soon after meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly.
Mr. Trump, in part, wrote, “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. 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.” The strengthened support from Mr. Trump, if it sticks, is a huge win for Mr. Zelenskyy, who has urged the American president to keep up the pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin to end his brutal war.
However, the post did not include language about new U.S. sanctions or tariffs targeting Russia’s energy sector, although Mr. Trump has discussed both, including with European leaders. And, neither did the post discuss fresh direct U.S. arms sales to Ukraine, instead suggesting that NATO members would continue to buy American weaponry and then transfer it to Ukraine.
Mr. Trump, going back to his 2024 campaign, insisted that he would quickly end the war. And he’s frequently suggested that U.S. interests in the outcome were limited.
“Russia has been fighting aimlessly for three and a half years a War that should have taken a Real Military Power less than a week to win,” Trump wrote. “This is not distinguishing Russia. In fact, it is very much making them look like a paper tiger.’”
In his meeting with Mr. Trump, Mr. Zelenskyy was seeking additional U.S. help in defending his country from Russia’s onslaught of missiles, drones and bombs.
The two Presidents, who have had strained ties in previous sitdowns, greeted each other warmly.
“We have great respect for the fight that Ukraine is putting up,” Mr. Trump told Mr. Zelenskyy, who replied that he had “good news” from the battlefield.
“We will speak of how to finish the war and security guarantees,” Zelenskyy said, thanking the US leader for the meeting and for his “personal efforts to stop this war.”
As the fighting rages on, Mr. Trump said the “biggest progress” toward ending the conflict “is that the Russian economy is terrible right now.” Mr. Zelenskyy said Ukraine agreed with Trump’s call for European nations to further halt imports of Russian oil and natural gas.
Trump says the war was supposed to be a quick little skirmish
In his speech to the General Assembly earlier on Tuesday, Mr. Trump said the war in Ukraine was making Russia “look bad” because it was “supposed to be a quick little skirmish.”
“It shows you what leadership is, what bad leadership can do to a country,” he said. “The only question now is how many lives will be needlessly lost on both sides.”
With his troops under strain on the front line after more than three years of fighting Russia’s bigger invading army, Mr. Zelenskyy was meeting world leaders in New York and was due to speak at a special U.N. Security Council session on Ukraine.
Push for sanctions and cutting off Russian oil
European leaders, as well as American lawmakers, including some Republican allies of Trump, have urged the President to dial up stronger sanctions on Russia. Mr. Trump, meanwhile, has pressed Europe to stop buying Russian oil, the engine feeding Putin’s war machine.
Mr. Trump said a “very strong round of powerful tariffs” would “stop the bloodshed, I believe, very quickly.” He repeated his calls for Europe to “step it up” and stop buying Russian oil.
Before meeting with Mr. Zelenskyy, Mr. Trump held talks with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who said Europe would be imposing more sanctions and tariffs on Russia and that the bloc would be further reducing its imports of Russian energy.
European leaders have supported Mr. Zelenskyy’s diplomatic efforts, with some alarmed by the possibility that the war could spread beyond Ukraine as they are facing what they have called Russian provocations.
NATO allies will hold formal consultations at Estonia’s request on Tuesday, after the Baltic country said that three Russian fighter jets entered its airspace last week without authorization.
Mr. Trump said he would back NATO countries that choose to shoot down intruding Russian planes, but said direct U.S. involvement would depend on the circumstances.
New strikes in Ukraine as toll of war grows
Meanwhile, the full-scale war, which began on Feb. 24, 2022, continues to take a heavy toll on Ukrainian civilians.
The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said this month that Ukrainian civilian casualties increased by 40% in the first eight months of this year compared with 2024, as Russia escalated its long-range missile and localized drone strikes.
Published – September 24, 2025 01:51 am IST
