Trump's abrupt Ukraine shift exposes fresh frustrations with Putin

President Trump’s abrupt shift on how the Russian invasion of Ukraine could end is exposing his newly increased frustrations with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Trump’s sudden determination on Tuesday that Ukraine could win back all of its land — and perhaps more — came after meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on the sidelines of the United Nations, leaving Zelensky please and surprised.

Some GOP foreign policy hawks signaled that they are all in on the president’s latest posture and argued that it could change the course of the war.

But they also cautioned the White House would need to back up Trump’s tough talk with action.

“I welcome President Trump’s acknowledgement that Ukraine can defeat Russia’s brutal aggression,” Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), one of the foremost GOP Ukraine hawks in Congress, said in a statement Wednesday. “For years, President Biden’s dithering and hesitant efforts to help Ukraine defend itself only prolonged this conflict. This year, senior members of President Trump’s Administration have consistently recommended he take the same disastrous approach to this awful war.”

“Meanwhile, reality has been unmistakable: passivity in the face of aggression will not stop Putin. Self-imposed constraints will only delay the peace the president rightly seeks,” he continued, calling on all in the administration to back Ukraine or risk “undermining President Trump’s efforts to end the war.”

“The world is watching to see if President Trump’s administration translates his rhetoric into action,” McConnell added.

Trump’s Tuesday social media post marked the latest shift in his approach to Putin after coming into office touting his relationship with the Russian leader and vowing to use it to quickly end the war. The following months were marked both by an explosive Oval Office meeting with Zelensky and evidence of increasing frustration with Moscow.

Trump hosted Putin in Alaska in August for a historic summit, rolling out the red carpet and having Putin ride in the presidential limousine from the tarmac in Anchorage to the meeting site. The president had billed the meeting as a discussion on swapping territories as part of potential peace talks with Ukraine, but the two did not reach a deal.

Days later, Trump and European allies hosted Zelensky at the White House to discuss security guarantees for Ukraine.

Throughout the war, however, Trump has remained consistent in signaling that any deal would need to include Ukraine ceding territory to Russia, while Zelensky insisted doing so was a nonstarter.

This week, Trump’s tune changed. The president affirmed Ukraine’s ability to “fight and WIN all of Ukraine back in its original form” in a Tuesday post on Truth Social while comparing Russia’s war advancements to that of a “paper tiger.”

When asked on Fox News’s “Fox & Friends” about the shift for Trump, Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz said, “I think you’re seeing the president’s frustration and disappointment, frankly, with Putin.”

“At the end of the day, Putin has to end their war, the president has made it very clear his intent,” Waltz said, adding he will leave questions on weapons provided to Ukraine to Trump but that “the broader piece here is that the president is going to do whatever it takes and he’s going to shift positions if he needs to to get this war to end.”

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, on Fox News’s “Jesse Watters Primetime,” said Trump has “most recently … been incredibly frustrated with President Putin and Russia.”

“Who continues to talk nice and then we wake up every morning, and in the West Wing we’re receiving reports about how Russia bombed Ukraine, and they continue to kill innocent civilians,” Leavitt added.

Senate GOP allies view the latest effort as one to heap pressure on Russia in a bid to turn the tide in the fighting to bring the war to a conclusion.

“He’s putting Russia on notice,” said Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.), a top Trump ally, in an interview. “I think what the president is doing here is clearly sending a message to Putin saying, ‘OK, keep pushing, but it’s going to get worse for you,’ because we’re going to give [Ukraine and NATO] the ability, instead of putting restrictions on them, we’re going to … give them the authority do what they need to do and the means to do it.”

Mullin also echoed Waltz’s comments, indicating that Trump’s latest posturing should be viewed through a lens of finding a way to end the fighting.

“It’s a war, and that’s a moving target always. That’s the situation we find ourselves in,” he said. “You’ve always got to be looking for a way to end the war, so that can always change, but this is where it could escalate to if Putin doesn’t look for a way to get out. The president’s given him a way out to end this war in a … favorable term that both countries could live with.”

Trump’s comments also come amid a push by top Republicans to vote on a bipartisan sanctions package that would punish nations that import Russian oil, gas and uranium.

The measure, which is led by Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) would allow Trump to impose a 500 percent tariff of his own on countries that purchase Russian energy, with China, India and Brazil atop the list.

Trump recently has urged the European Union to levy a 100 percent tariff of its own, in part to ensure that the U.S. and Europeans are in lockstep on this push.

He directly called out European allies in his remarks on Tuesday at the United Nations General Assembly for buying Russian oil, arguing “They’re funding the war against themselves.”

“They can’t be doing what they’re doing, they’re buying oil and gas from Russia while they’re fighting Russia. It’s embarrassing for them,” Trump said. “They have to immediately cease all energy purchases from Russia or else we’re all wasting a lot of time.”

Graham, in a post responding to Trump’s support for Ukraine’s original borders, pointed to the pressure on countries that buy Russian oil as a route to end the fighting.

“This commitment to continue to sell high end American weapons to NATO for the benefit of Ukraine tremendously changes the military equation for Russia,” Graham wrote on the social platform X. “This commitment combined with economic pressure on those who buy cheap Russian oil and gas like China, India and Brazil is the best hope to end this bloodbath honorably and justly.”

Blumenthal, meanwhile, also used Trump’s latest remarks to tout the sanctions — while voicing skepticism about his seriousness.

“Trump’s supposedly bold Ukraine shift will be just more bluff & bluster unless he backs his words with action—military aid & support for Graham-Blumenthal Russian Sanctions Bill. Tough Trump talk is forfeiting all force, as Putin mockingly defies him,” he wrote on X.

“If Trump really believes Russia’s economy is tanking—& he’s right—he should stop the blood money from oil & gas sales to China, India & Brazil & cripple Putin’s war machine. Right now. No need to wait for Europe to move first. Show leadership—push Graham-Blumenthal sanctions,” he added.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) has held off putting it on the floor and has awaited Trump’s green light to do so. But Republicans believe the hour glass is almost up for a vote to happen.

“Every day we’re closer to doing [sanctions],” Mullin said. “What we have to do is make sure that other countries are willing to go along with us because it doesn’t do any good if we do it and it doesn’t have an effect.”

{
“@context”: “https://schema.org”,
“@type”: “NewsArticle”,
“headline”: “[article_title]”,
“datePublished”: “2025-09-24 21:13:00”,
“dateModified”: “2025-09-24 21:13:00”,
“author”: {
“@type”: “Organization”,
“name”: “{source_domain}”
},
“publisher”: {
“@type”: “Organization”,
“name”: “UAE Today News”,
“logo”: {
“@type”: “ImageObject”,
“url”: “https://uaetodaynews.com/logo.png”
}
},
“mainEntityOfPage”: {
“@type”: “WebPage”,
“@id”: “https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5520428-trump-russia-ukraine-war/”
},
“isBasedOn”: “https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5520428-trump-russia-ukraine-war/”
}