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

US president Donald Trump has said Ukraine can win back all territory it has lost to Russia – a dramatic shift from the American leader’s previous call on Kyiv to make concessions.

Mr Trump offered his position in a social media posting soon after meeting with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

Mr Trump wrote: “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.”

Earlier, Mr Zelensky met his US counterpart at the UN headquarters as he sought additional American help in defending his country from Russia’s onslaught.

The two presidents, who have had strained ties in previous talks, greeted each other warmly on the sidelines of the annual UN General Assembly gathering of world leaders.

Mr Trump told Mr Zelensky: “We have great respect for the fight that Ukraine is putting up.”

The Ukrainian leader replied that he had “good news” from the battlefield.

“We will speak of how to finish the war and security guarantees,” Mr Zelensky said, thanking the US leader for the meeting and for his “personal efforts to stop this war”.

As the fighting rages on, Mr Trump said the “biggest progress” toward ending the conflict “is that the Russian economy is terrible right now”. Mr Zelensky said Ukraine agreed with Mr Trump’s call for European nations to further halt imports of Russian oil and natural gas.

In his speech to the General Assembly earlier on Tuesday, Mr 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.”

With his troops under strain on the front line after more than three years of fighting Russia’s bigger invading army, Mr Zelensky was meeting world leaders in New York and was due to speak at a special UN Security Council session on Ukraine.

Peace efforts set in motion by Mr Trump since he returned to office in January appear to have stalled. His Alaska summit with Russian president Vladimir Putin and a White House meeting with Mr Zelensky and key European leaders took place more than a month ago, but the war has continued unabated.

Following those meetings, Mr Trump announced that he was arranging for direct talks between Mr Putin and Mr Zelensky. But Mr Putin has not shown any interest in meeting with Mr Zelensky and Moscow has only intensified its bombardment of Ukraine.

European leaders as well as American legislators, including some Republican allies of Mr Trump, have urged the president to dial up stronger sanctions on Russia. Mr Trump, meanwhile, has pressed Europe to stop buying Russian oil, the engine feeding Mr Putin’s war machine.

Mr Trump said a “very strong round of powerful tariffs” would “stop the bloodshed, I believe, very quickly”. He repeated his calls for Europe to “step it up” and stop buying Russian oil.

Before meeting with the Ukrainian leader, Mr Trump held talks with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who said Europe would be imposing more sanctions and tariffs on Russia and that the bloc would be further reducing its imports of Russian energy.

European leaders have supported Mr Zelensky’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.

Nato allies will hold formal consultations at Estonia’s request on Tuesday, after the Baltic country said that three Russian fighter jets entered its airspace last week without authorization.

Mr Trump said he would back Nato countries that choose to shoot down intruding Russian planes but said direct US involvement would depend on the circumstances.

Meanwhile, the full-scale war, which began in February 2022, continues to take a heavy toll on Ukrainian civilians.

The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights 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.

Also, a UN Human Rights Office report released on 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.

Russian aircraft dropped five glide bombs on the southern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia overnight, killing a man, regional head Ivan Fedorov said on Tuesday. In the Odesa region of southern Ukraine, Russian ballistic missiles struck the town centre of Tatarbunary, killing a woman, regional head Oleh Kiper said.

Overall, Russian forces launched three Iskander ballistic missiles and 115 strike and decoy drones at Ukraine overnight, the Ukrainian air force said. It said 103 drones were intercepted or jammed, but 12 drones and three missiles reached their targets at six locations.

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said more than 40 Ukrainian drones flying toward the Russian capital were shot down between Monday evening and midday on Tuesday.

Flights were temporarily halted overnight in and out of Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport, causing delays and cancellations, because of the attack.

The Russian defence ministry reported on Tuesday that it intercepted 69 Ukrainian drones over a number of Russian regions and the annexed Crimean Peninsula.