
By Natalia Drozdiak, Alberto Nardelli, and Ewa Krukowska
As Ukraine and its allies absorbed the surprise from Donald Trump’s newly upbeat view of Kyiv’s prospects in its war against Russia’s invasion, there were signs of a familiar move by the US president — upping the pressure not on Russia but on Europe.
Trump’s social-media post Tuesday reversed his past claims that Ukraine had “no cards to play” in the fight. But he didn’t offer any new US steps to support Kyiv, leaving that up to allies in Europe. The post made no mention of new moves to tighten sanctions on Russia, either.
In public, Ukrainian and European officials hailed Trump’s verbal shift, which followed a meeting with President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. Privately, they were more cautious, sensing he was pushing the responsibility for ending the war to them. Though Trump seemed to set a baseline for US support – easing allied fears of a cutoff of vital military aid – officials also warned that Trump’s view may change again.
His assertion that Ukraine could retake – with Europe’s support – the 20% of its territory lost to Russia also goes against most allied intelligence assessments, which see a bloody stalemate as the most either side can hope for at present. The Kremlin has dramatically stepped up strikes in the six weeks since Trump hosted Vladimir Putin in Alaska to discuss a peace deal, though progress on the ground has been limited.
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