By Tom Ozimek
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Sept. 23 that Ukraine should go on the offensive against Russia and reclaim all occupied territories.
“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 in a post on Truth Social.
The president said that with backing from Europe and NATO and enough time and patience, it is “very much an option” for Ukraine to drive Russian forces out and restore its borders.
“Why not?” Trump wrote. “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 said Russia’s faltering economy, shortages at home, and growing public discontent could tip the balance further in Ukraine’s favor. He described Ukraine as having “Great Spirit” and growing stronger as the war drags on, while warning that Russian President Vladimir Putin faces “BIG Economic trouble.”
“This is the time for Ukraine to act,” Trump wrote, noting that he wishes both countries well and that the United States will continue to supply weapons to NATO “for NATO to do what they want with them.”
The Kremlin did not reply to a request for comment by publication time.
For months, Trump sought to broker peace between Russia and Ukraine, urging the leaders of the two warring nations to hammer out a diplomatic settlement and end the bloodshed. However, those efforts have yielded few results, and Trump’s latest comments signal recognition that talks with Putin have gone nowhere and that only battlefield pressure will decide the war.
Trump’s message came shortly after he met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly.
Reacting to the post, Zelenskyy told reporters that Trump is a “game changer” for Ukraine.
Earlier, Trump answered questions from reporters while sitting alongside Zelenskyy. A reporter asked the U.S. president directly whether he believes that a NATO nation should shoot down a Russian aircraft that enters its airspace, to which Trump replied, “Yes, I do.”
Also on Sept. 23, NATO warned Russia that the alliance would use “all necessary military and non-military tools” to defend itself as it condemned Kremlin forces for violating Estonian airspace in what the alliance described as “a pattern of increasingly irresponsible behaviour.”
The warning came after Estonia said last week that three Russian MiG-31 fighter jets had violated its airspace for 12 minutes before NATO aircraft were scrambled to intercept and escort the Russian warplanes out.
“Our commitment to Article 5 is ironclad,” NATO said in a statement, referring to the treaty provision stating that an armed attack on one or more alliance members is considered an attack against them all.
Speaking to reporters in Brussels, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said the Russian jets were assessed to not pose an immediate threat and so were not shot down. But he said NATO commanders could “take the ultimate decision” to act if they judged intruding aircraft to be a genuine threat.
Moscow’s breach of Estonian airspace came on the heels of a series of Russian incursions into NATO airspace. Poland said recently that it downed several Russian drones that crossed its border, while Romania reported spotting another during Russian strikes on Ukraine near the Danube River. Polish officials also accused two Russian fighter jets of buzzing the Petrobaltic oil platform in the Baltic Sea on Sept. 19.
More recently, Denmark halted flights at Copenhagen Airport for nearly four hours on Sept. 22 after several large drones were spotted near the hub. Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen called it the “most serious attack on Danish critical infrastructure to date” and said she could not rule out Russian involvement. Norway also briefly closed airspace over Oslo Airport after a drone was sighted there.
The Kremlin dismissed the allegations as “baseless,” and spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow no longer takes such claims seriously, according to state news agency TASS.
