UNITED NATIONS (AP) — President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he believed Ukraine could win back all territory lost to Russia, a dramatic shift from the U.S. leader’s repeated calls for Kyiv to make concessions to end the war.
Trump posted on social media soon after meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly gathering of world leaders.
During a quick pull-aside meeting at the U.N. General Assembly, President Donald Trump emphasized his new position that Ukraine can win back all territory lost to Russia during a bilateral meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron.
“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,” Trump wrote. “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 Trump, if it sticks, is a huge win for Zelenskyy, who has urged the American president to keep up the pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin to end his war. It was a departure from Trump’s previous suggestions that Ukraine would never be able to reclaim all the territory that Russia has occupied since seizing the Crimean Peninsula in 2014.
That had disheartened Zelenskyy, Europeans and Ukrainians and called into question the U.S. commitment to U.N. principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity. But now, Trump’s view of the battlefield coincides more with Ukraine’s, Zelenskyy said.
“Trump is a game changer by himself,” Zelenskyy told reporters after their meeting.
Trump needles Russia about war in Ukraine
In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, the fire following a Russian missile attack is seen in Tatarbunary, Odesa region, Ukraine, Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2025. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP) In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, the fire following a Russian missile attack is seen in Tatarbunary, Odesa region, Ukraine, Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2025. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP) Share Share Facebook
Trump, going back to his 2024 campaign, insisted he would quickly end the war, but his peace efforts appear to have stalled following a diplomatic blitz last month, when he held a summit with Putin and a White House meeting with Zelenskyy and European allies.
Trump has acknowledged, including in his U.N. speech to world leaders, that he thought a resolution to this conflict would be “the easiest” because he has had a good relationship with Putin. Trump said he is open to imposing more sanctions on Russia and urged Europe to join in.
“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,” Trump wrote on social media. “This is not distinguishing Russia. In fact, it is very much making them look like ‘a paper tiger.’”
In his speech to the General Assembly, 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.”
Before meeting with Zelenskyy, Trump said the “biggest progress” toward ending the conflict “is that the Russian economy is terrible right now.” Zelenskyy said he agreed with Trump’s call for European nations to further halt imports of Russian oil and natural gas.
“We have great respect for the fight that Ukraine is putting up,” Trump told Zelenskyy, who replied that he had “good news” from the battlefield.
How Trump’s stance has shifted on Ukraine
President Donald Trump meets with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during the United Nations General Assembly, Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) President Donald Trump meets with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during the United Nations General Assembly, Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) Share Share Facebook
Before his Alaska summit with Putin last month, Trump repeated that any resolution to the war would require “some land swapping.”
In talks with Zelenskyy and Europeans just afterward, Trump said Putin reiterated that he wants the Donetsk and Luhansk regions that make up the Donbas, according to European officials. Days later, Zelenskyy and prominent European leaders came to the White House.
Following those meetings, Trump announced he was arranging for direct talks between Putin and Zelenskyy. But Putin hasn’t shown any interest in meeting with Zelenskyy and Moscow has only intensified its bombardment of Ukraine.
European leaders as well as American lawmakers, including some Republican allies of Trump, have urged the president to dial up stronger sanctions on Russia.
“In the event that Russia is not ready to make a deal to end the war, then the United States is fully prepared to impose a very strong round of powerful tariffs, which would stop the bloodshed, I believe, very quickly,” Trump told the General Assembly.
However, he repeated his calls for Europe to “step it up” and stop buying Russian oil, the engine feeding Putin’s war machine.
Push for sanctions and cutting off Russian oil
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said before meeting with Trump that Europe would be imposing more sanctions and tariffs on Russia and that the bloc would be further reducing its imports of Russian energy.
Zelenskyy, speaking at a special U.N. Security Council session on Ukraine, also appealed for stronger U.S. pressure on Russia.
“Moscow fears America and always pays attention to it,” said Zelenskyy, who has had strained ties with Trump in previous sitdowns and has previously faced White House accusations that he was partly to blame for Russia’s invasion in 2022.
Russia denigrated the Security Council meeting as just the New York stop in the world tour of a “former actor,” a reference to Zelenskyy.
“There is no added value for the establishment of peace in Ukraine generated from today’s meeting,” said Dmitry Polyanskiy, Russia’s deputy ambassador to the U.N. “This will merely become yet another shameful episode in the market of hypocrisy.”
European leaders have supported Zelenskyy’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.
“I welcome the fact that the president of the United States believes in Ukraine’s ability not only to hold the course” but to prevail, French President Emmanuel Macron said.
NATO allies will hold formal consultations at Estonia’s request on Tuesday, after the Baltic country said three Russian fighter jets entered its airspace last week without authorization.
Trump said he would back NATO countries that choose to shoot down intruding Russian planes, but said direct U.S. involvement would depend on the circumstances.
New strikes in Ukraine as toll of war grows
In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, firefighters put out the fire following a Russian missile attack in Tatarbunary, Odesa region, Ukraine, Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2025. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP) In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, firefighters put out the fire following a Russian missile attack in Tatarbunary, Odesa region, Ukraine, Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2025. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP) Share Share Facebook
The full-scale war, which began on Feb. 24, 2022, is taking a heavy toll on Ukrainian civilians. Russia said it shot down three dozen Ukrainian drones heading toward Moscow, while Ukraine said Russian missiles, drones and bombs killed at least two civilians.
The U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights also said this month that Ukrainian civilian casualties increased by 40% in the first eight months of this year compared with 2024, as Russia escalated its long-range missile and localized drone strikes.
A U.N. Human Rights Office report released Tuesday described the dire situation of thousands of civilians detained by Russia in areas of Ukraine it has captured.
“Russian authorities have subjected Ukrainian civilian detainees in occupied territory to torture and ill-treatment, including sexual violence, in a widespread and systematic manner,” the report said.
Novikov reported from Kyiv, Ukraine. AP reporters Hanna Arhirova in Kyiv, Ukraine, and Farnoush Amiri at the United Nations contributed to this report.
Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
Little-Mamou on September 23rd, 2025 at 19:50 UTC »
So Trump wants Europe to buy more weapons from America to send to Ukraine. Is that what I read?
SpaceC0wboyX on September 23rd, 2025 at 19:40 UTC »
Trump is bipolar on Ukraine/russia. I genuinely don’t get his thoughts on this.
NATO is garbage > Suck up to Russia > Ukraine is corrupt > push for peace > Ukraine can win > NATO is strong. He’s done a full 180 from his position only a few months ago
QuieroLaSeptima on September 23rd, 2025 at 19:31 UTC »
Trump on Truth Social:
“After getting to know and fully understand the Ukraine/Russia Military and Economic situation and, after seeing the Economic trouble it is causing Russia, 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. Why not? 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. This is not distinguishing Russia. In fact, it is very much making them look like "a paper tiger." When the people living in Moscow, and all of the Great Cities, Towns, and Districts all throughout Russia, find out what is really going on with this War, the fact that it's almost impossible for them to get Gasoline through the long lines that are being formed, and all of the other things that are taking place in their War Economy, where most of their money is being spent on fighting Ukraine, which has Great Spirit, and only getting better, Ukraine would be able to take back their Country in its original form and, who knows, maybe even go further than that! Putin and Russia are in BIG Economic trouble, and this is the time for Ukraine to act. In any event, I wish both Countries well. We will continue to supply weapons to NATO for NATO to do what they want with them. Good luck to all!”