Ukrainians cautious as Trump shifts stance and says they can win war with Russia

Ukrainians have been cautious in their response to a surprise pivot in US President Donald Trump’s views on their prospects for defeating Russia’s invasion, after he said they could win the three-year war and retake land captured by Russia.

Russian officials, meanwhile, said developments on the battlefield showed Ukraine is unable to reclaim the occupied territory and dismissed Mr Trump’s description of Russia as a “paper tiger”.

“Russia isn’t a tiger, it’s more associated with a bear,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

“There are no paper bears. Russia is a real bear.”

Some Ukrainians expressed hope that Mr Trump’s words would be backed up by concrete support for Ukraine in Washington, while others were wary about the American president’s unpredictability.

“We need such support from America, from Donald Trump, and we hope that this will continue in the future – the same rhetoric, the same attitude toward us, toward Ukraine, and toward the war in Ukraine,” Olha Voronina, a 66-year-old Kyiv resident, said.

Volodymyr Cheslavskyi, a 48-year-old soldier recovering from a war wound, said he considered Mr Trump to be more interested in making money than helping Ukraine, and kept people guessing about his true intentions with contradictory statements.

“He can say different things each time – he supports Ukraine, or he does not support Ukraine,” Mr Cheslavskyi told The Associated Press (AP) in St Michael’s Square in the Ukrainian capital.

Anna Khudimova, 43, said she believed her country’s armed forces could prevail on the battlefield against Russia’s bigger army.

“But we cannot do it without the help of Nato, without the support of Europe,” she said.

“If Trump influences the situation, then perhaps this can be realistic.”

Russia has occupied around 20% of Ukraine since it annexed Crimea in 2014.

The all-out invasion began in February 2022.

In comments on Tuesday at the United Nations and on social media, Mr Trump took a swipe at Russian President Vladimir Putin’s leadership, made cutting remarks about Russia’s military prowess and derided the Russian economy’s performance.

He also said Nato countries should shoot down Russian warplanes entering their airspace.

Mr Trump’s comments were an unanticipated departure from his previous positions on the war, when he has been publicly cool, even at times hostile, towards Ukraine and apparently more amenable to Mr Putin.

After taking office in January, Mr Trump reversed the three-year US policy of isolating Russia when he called Mr Putin.

He has also ruled out the possibility of Ukraine joining Nato, has said Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky would need to negotiate swapping land in return for a peace deal with Moscow, and on social media called Mr Zelensky “a Dictator without Elections”.

A senior Ukrainian legislator said Mr Trump’s latest remarks were unexpected but important.

“What remains important to us is not only Trump’s words, but also whether he fulfils the earlier promises regarding decisive sanctions” on Russia, Oleksandr Merezhko, chairman of the Ukrainian Parliament’s Committee on Foreign Policy and Interparliamentary Co-operation, told the AP.

The United States and Ukraine signed earlier this year a deal granting Washington access to the country’s critical minerals and other natural resources.

Another agreement is in the works, with a Ukrainian delegation due in Washington next week for talks on joint weapons production, Ukraine’s ambassador to the US Olha Stefanishyna said on Wednesday.

The potential deal focuses on drone manufacturing, where Ukraine is at the cutting edge of new battle-tested technology, and was discussed “in quite some detail” between Mr Trump and Mr Zelensky on Tuesday, she said.

Mr Zelensky and Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov were due to address the UN General Assembly later on Wednesday.

Mr Trump said on social media on Tuesday: “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.”

Russia’s state television channels cast Mr Trump’s comments as part of his efforts to shift the burden of dealing with the conflict to Europe and encourage it to buy more American weapons.

Mr Peskov challenged Mr Trump’s comment that “Russia has been fighting aimlessly”.

Moscow has been fighting to “ensure our security and our interests and remove the root causes of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine… linked to the refusal by the previous American administrations and the Europeans to take our concerns into account”, the Kremlin spokesman said on Wednesday.

He also countered Mr Trump’s description of Russia’s economic woes, arguing that despite some problems the Russian economy has remained strong.

Dmitry Medvedev, a former Russian president who serves as deputy head of the Security Council chaired by Mr Putin, scoffed at Mr Trump’s comments as an “alternative reality”.

He predicted that the US president could change his mind again soon.