Trump Says Ukraine Can Win Back All Lost Territory With NATO Support
Former U.S. President Donald Trump declared Tuesday that Ukraine, with backing from the European Union and NATO, can reclaim all of the territory it has lost to Russia since the start of the war, signaling a shift from his earlier position that both sides would need to make territorial concessions to achieve peace.
Speaking after his meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the United Nations General Assembly in New York, Trump posted on his Truth Social platform, asserting that Ukraine’s pre-2022 borders remain a viable goal.
“With time, patience, and the financial support of Europe and, in particular, NATO, the original borders from where this war started are very much an option,” Trump wrote.
He went on to criticize Russia’s military performance in the war, calling it ineffective and directionless.
“Russia has been fighting aimlessly in a war that a real military power would have won in less than a week,” he wrote, adding that “Putin and Russia are in BIG economic trouble, and this is the time for Ukraine to act.”
Trump also reiterated that the United States would continue supplying weapons to NATO, “for NATO to do what they want with them” — suggesting a hands-off approach to how allies choose to support Kyiv militarily.
Trump has floated the idea of a direct meeting between Zelensky and Putin — potentially with himself as a participant — as part of a broader peace initiative. The proposal, while not formally endorsed by either side, remains a central element of Trump’s approach to ending the war, which began with Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.
Moscow has downplayed the idea of such a summit, saying that no meeting is planned and that any future talks would require a clear and well-structured agenda. Kyiv, for its part, has pointed to Russia’s ongoing military offensives and refusal to scale back its ambitions as evidence that Moscow is not serious about negotiations.
Photo credit: Gage Skidmore via Flickr