Trump now says Ukraine can win back all territory lost to Russia

UNITED NATIONS: US President Donald Trump shifted his rhetoric about the war in Ukraine on Tuesday (Sep 23), saying he believes Ukraine can win back all of the territory Russia has taken since its invasion, although he gave no indication of how that would affect US policy.

Trump made his comment in a post on his Truth Social platform soon after meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly. He had previously said that both Kyiv and Moscow would have to cede land to end the war.

"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," Trump said in his post.

Zelenskyy has been pushing Trump to show more support for Kyiv's war effort, including by imposing tough new sanctions on Russia. Many Ukrainians were shocked when Trump gave Russian President Vladimir Putin red carpet treatment at a mid-August summit in Alaska, and believe Moscow will not stop its war unless it faces heavy external pressure.

In the post, Trump criticised Russia, saying it had been fighting "aimlessly" in a war that a "real military power" would have won in less than a week. 

But he has not imposed tougher sanctions and he and aides have seemed to indicate that Kyiv must cede both Crimea and parts of eastern Ukraine to Russia in order to end the deadliest conflict in Europe in 80 years.

In his post on Tuesday, however, Trump hinted at stronger action. "Putin and Russia are in BIG Economic trouble, and this is the time for Ukraine to act," the post said.

The only firm commitment from Trump in his post was for the US to "continue to supply weapons to NATO for NATO to do what they want with them", an apparent reference to a new mechanism allowing Europe to buy US weapons for Ukraine.

The Ukrainian leader told reporters after his meeting with Trump that it had been "good, constructive", but declined to go into detail about much of the substance of their conversation.

Zelenskyy said on Tuesday that they had discussed Russia's stuttering economy and that "there was an understanding" that Trump would be ready to provide security guarantees to Ukraine when the war is over.

He said that Trump had the influence and power to be a "game-changer" for Ukraine in the war, noting also that China retained influence over Russia.

Speaking to reporters, Russia's Deputy UN Ambassador Dmitry Polyanskiy cast scepticism on Trump's message.

"Don't get so excited about every tweet," said Polyanskiy.