Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Tuesday he was surprised by President Trump’s post arguing the Eastern European country could regain all of its territory captured by Russia.
Mr. Trump wrote in a Truth Social post that Zelenskyy’s forces are “in a position to fight and WIN all of Ukraine back in its original form” with Europe’s help. The unexpected remarks — which called the Russian military a “paper tiger” — came after Mr. Trump met with Zelenskyy for about an hour Tuesday on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York City.
The comments appear to mark a dramatic shift for Mr. Trump, who said last month he expected “some swapping of territories” as part of an eventual Russia-Ukraine ceasefire deal. Russia occupies large parts of eastern Ukraine, including territories captured in 2014 and in the current war that began with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Asked later Tuesday by Fox News’ Bret Baier if he was surprised by the U.S. president’s about-face, Zelenskyy laughed and responded, “a little bit.”
Zelenskyy said he and Mr. Trump had a positive conversation on Tuesday, and he believes Mr. Trump’s position on territorial swaps has changed.
“I think he understands for today that we can’t just swap territories. It’s not fair,” he said.
During their meeting on Tuesday, Mr. Trump told reporters that Zelenskyy was “putting up one hell of a fight,” and he believes the “biggest progress” is that the Russian economy is “terrible.” But the U.S. leader didn’t appear optimistic about a quick resolution to the war, telling reporters, “It looks like it’s not going to end for a long time.”
Mr. Trump has pressed both Russia and Ukraine to reach a ceasefire deal to end their more than three-year-long war, which began when Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
But a deal has remained elusive as both sides’ public positions remain far apart. The Kremlin has pushed Zelenskyy to fully withdraw from large swaths of eastern Ukraine, an idea Zelenskyy has rejected as unfair and unconstitutional. Meanwhile, Ukraine has sought international security guarantees to deter another Russian attack if the current conflict ends.
Mr. Trump has lashed out at both Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin at various points. He met with Putin in Alaska last month, but he has criticized the Russian leader for continued strikes on Ukraine, and said last week that Putin had “really let me down.”
The U.S. president also pressed NATO countries earlier this month to stop buying Russian oil and to impose hefty tariffs on China, which has remained aligned with Russia, writing that those moves could “be of great help in ENDING this deadly, but RIDICULOUS, WAR.”
Separately, Mr. Trump said Tuesday that he believes NATO countries should shoot down Russian aircraft that enter their airspace, after Russian drones entered Poland earlier this month and Russian fighter jets allegedly entered Estonian airspace.
At other points, though, Mr. Trump and Zelenskyy have had a rocky relationship. An Oval Office meeting between the two leaders earlier this year descended into a shouting match, and Mr. Trump has occasionally blamed Zelenskyy for the war.
During his interview with Fox News on Tuesday, Zelenskyy said he believes his relationship with his American counterpart has improved.
“I think we have better relation[s] than before,” Zelenskyy said. “I think we didn’t have close relation[s] because we didn’t have, maybe, time. I don’t know.”
