In a Tuesday afternoon post on Truth Social, President Donald Trump said Russia’s inability to make progress against Ukraine after three years of grinding warfare has convinced him Ukraine could win a total victory with help from Europe and the United States, pushing the Russians completely off Ukrainian soil.
“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,” 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 president mused.
Depending on exactly when the reader believes “this war started,” Trump was potentially not talking about Ukraine ejecting Russia from Crimea, the peninsula illegally occupied by Moscow in 2014 — although many Ukrainians believe the annexation of Crimea was the true beginning of the current conflict. Instead, it is possible Trump was referring to the eastern Ukrainian territory occupied by Russia in February 2022. The ethnic Russian inhabitants of that region had been fighting an insurgency against the government in Kyiv for years.
When he sent his troops across Ukraine’s borders, Russian strongman Vladimir Putin unilaterally divided that territory into two “independent republics” called Donetsk and Luhansk. Putin has since demanded Ukraine surrender Donetsk and Luhansk, which collectively form a region known as Donbas, in any conceivable peace deal. Trump instead suggested Kyiv has a good shot at driving the Russians completely out of Donbas.
“Why not?” Trump asked on Tuesday. “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.’”
Trump taunted Putin by suggesting the Russian people would turn on him if they knew how badly he had bungled the war:
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,” the president urged.
“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!” he concluded.
Trump’s post was quickly repeated on X by White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt.
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