Trump unequivocal on action against Russian aircraft – but short on specifics about US involvementpublished at 19:05 BST
19:05 BST
Bernd Debusmann Jr
Reporting from New York
Image source, Getty ImagesFor the last few hours, I’ve been running back and forth to catch a few minutes’ worth of bilateral meetings between Trump and a host of world leaders, including Zelensky, Ursula von der Leyen, Guterres and Milei.
In stark contrast to his earlier speech, Trump has been polite and full of praise for these leaders, and his comments have been, overall, much more positive in nature than his previous speech.
But he’s also been short on specifics about what the US will do to address some of the issues he outlined today, whether it be on Argentina’s economy or Ukraine. Much of his tone has been one of “wait and see”.
The last meeting, with Zelensky, was very much like this.
On one hand, Trump responded without equivocation that he would support Nato countries shooting down Russian aircraft or drones that violate their airspace.
On the other hand, he did not specify in what circumstance the US would help in that scenario.
Similarly, he was vague when asked for an update on talks with Putin, saying he will let the world know “about a month from now.”
It’s something we’ve heard many times before, on a wide range of domestic and international topics.
Many keen Trump observers have described this as intentional, or “strategic ambiguity” in which he wants to keep his intentions hidden from most until it’s time to execute.
But for many world leaders – including, one imagines, Zelensky and his European allies – that strategy creates uncertainty about how the role the US sees for itself.