In major shift, Trump says he now thinks Ukraine can win back all of its territory taken by Russia

President Donald Trump said on Tuesday afternoon that he thought that Ukraine, with the help of the European Union, could reconquer its territory of Russia and return the country to its original borders.

The president had repeatedly suggested that the abandonment of the land would be a key element in the resolution of the Ukraine War with Russia.

“After getting to know and understand the military and economic situation of Ukraine / Russia and, after seeing the economic problems it causes Russia, I think that Ukraine, with the support of the European Union, is able to fight and reconquer all of Ukraine in its original form,” said Trump in a long post on Truth Social.

The president said that with the financial support of NATO, the return of Ukraine to its original borders is “an option”. He added that Russia “has been fighting for three and a half years a war that should have taken a real military power less than a week to win. It does not distinguish Russia”.

Trump suggested that once Russian citizens realize the quantity spent to combat Ukraine, which, according to him, has “a great spirit and only improves, Ukraine could resume their country in its original form and, who knows, perhaps even going further than that!”

The president said that Russian President Vladimir Putin and his country were “big economic problems, and it’s time for Ukraine to act”. He said the United States will continue to provide weapons to NATO “so that NATO does what they want with them.”

It was not immediately clear if Trump envisages the borders that came back to what they were before Russia invaded in February 2022, or if it would also include Crimea, that Russia illegally annexed in 2014.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comments.

The president’s position represents a significant change compared to previous declarations concerning the conflict. While Trump had become more and more critical of Putin, especially from their bilateral meeting last month in Alaska, he generally maintained a more neutral approach when he tried to gather the two parties for negotiations.

Trump’s position on social networks Tuesday after meeting earlier during the day with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for the fifth time in person during his second term on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York. Before their closed conversation, Trump told journalists that he supported NATO countries by slaughtering any Russian plane that raped their airspace. When asked if the United States would safeguard NATO allies, he said that it would “depend” on the circumstances.

Trump also transmitted to the press that there does not seem to be an end in sight for the conflict. “It seems that it will not end long,” he said.

During Trump’s Tuesday morning speech before the United Nations General Assembly, he criticized the European nations who continued to buy Russia oil despite wanting to increase Putin pressure to end the war in Ukraine.

Trump has repeatedly said that the exchange of territory between Ukraine and Russia would be a key element of any solution to end the war.

At the White House last month, Trump suggested that there had been talks on Russia and that Ukraine potentially “exchanges the territory as part of a cease-fire contract.

“We are actually looking to recover and exchange. It’s complicated. It’s actually nothing easy. It’s very complicated,” said Trump on August 8 at an event with leaders from Azerbaijan and Armenia.

“But we’re going to recover. We will change,” he added. “There will be an exchange of territories on the improvement of the two and … we will talk about it later or tomorrow, or other.”

Before the UN annual rally in New York this week, Zelenskyy called on European countries and the United States to intensify pressure on Russia with secondary sanctions. He quoted the ongoing attacks against his country, including an attack on missiles and large-scale drones during the weekend which killed at least three people and injured dozens of others.