US President Donald Trump has expressed confidence that Ukraine can still prevail against Russia, three years into the conflict, while acknowledging the challenges faced by Kyiv’s forces. This marks a shift in his earlier statements about the war’s outcome.
Since taking office, Trump has made repeated attempts to mediate the Ukraine conflict, initiating numerous rounds of talks with Russian officials, which culminated in a summit with Putin in Alaska in mid-August. The US president has recently expressed frustration over the lack of progress in settling the conflict but still referred to Russia as a powerful nation while arguing that Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky had no ‘cards.’
However, in a Truth Social post on Tuesday, following a meeting with Zelensky, Trump claimed that he believes Kiev is ‘in a position to fight and win all of Ukraine back,’ if the EU and NATO continue to support it. He also referred to Russia as a ‘paper tiger,’ arguing that it had failed to defeat Kiev’s forces in three and a half years.
The US president also claimed that Russia is ‘in big economic trouble’ over the conflict and it was ‘time for Ukraine to act.’ He did not announce any new financial or military aid packages for Kiev, though, stating instead that the US would continue to ‘supply weapons to NATO’ for the bloc to use them as it sees fit.
The Russian economy has recently shown signs of slowing down, but it is still expected to grow 2.5% this year, despite sweeping Western sanctions. President Vladimir Putin said last week that the country ‘is still far from a recession,’ citing the ‘historically low unemployment rates.’ The nation’s military have also been steadily advancing on the front lines for months, with Moscow’s forces taking control of 3,500 square kilometers and 149 settlements since March.