Trump said on Tuesday that Russia’s economy was in big trouble and that Moscow’s forces had been “fighting aimlessly for three and a half years”.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the war was not aimless, but arose because of the unwillingness of the United States and the European Union to listen to Russia’s security concerns.
The Kremlin were responding after US president Donald Trump said yesterday that Ukraine can win back all territory lost to Russia, a dramatic shift from the US leader’s call on Kyiv to make concessions to end the war.
Mr Trump offered his position in a social media posting soon after meeting with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly gathering of world leaders.
US president Donald Trump speaking to the United Nations General Assembly yesterday. Photo: AP
Trump attacks London mayor in UN address as he claims Europe is being ‘invaded’
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 Zelensky, who has urged the American president to keep up the pressure on Russian president Vladimir Putin to end his brutal war on Ukraine.
Mr Trump going back to his 2024 campaign insisted that he would quickly end the war. And he’s frequently suggested that US 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,” Mr 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 Zelensky was seeking additional US 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 Zelensky, who replied that he had “good news” from the battlefield.
“We will speak of how to finish the war and security guarantees,” Mr Zelensky 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 Zelensky said Ukraine agreed with Mr Trump’s call for European nations to further halt imports of Russian oil and natural gas.
In his speech to the General Assembly earlier yesterday, 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 Zelensky was meeting world leaders in New York and was due to speak at a special UN Security Council session on Ukraine.
Peace efforts set in motion by Mr Trump since he returned to office in January appear to have stalled.
Mr Trump’s Alaska summit with Mr Putin and a White House meeting with Mr Zelensky and key European leaders took place more than a month ago, but the war has continued unabated.
Following those meetings, Mr Trump announced that he was arranging for direct talks between Mr Putin and Mr Zelensky.
But Mr Putin hasn’t shown any interest in meeting with Mr Zelensky and Moscow has only intensified its bombardment of Ukraine.
European leaders as well as American lawmakers, including some Republican allies of Mr 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 Zelensky, 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 Zelensky’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.