Zelensky 'a little bit' surprised by Trump shift

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday said he was a “little bit” surprised after President Trump, following his speech before the United Nations General Assembly, seemed to shift his support to Ukraine amid the ongoing conflict with Russia.

“It was a surprise for me, you’re right,” Zelensky told host Bret Baier during a Tuesday appearance on Fox News’s “Special Report.”

“I was very positive signals from the sign that Trump and America will be with us to the end of the war,” he added.

His comment came after the president wrote a scathing post affirming Ukraine’s ability to “fight and WIN all of Ukraine back in its original form” while comparing the Kremlin’s war advancements to that of a “paper tiger.”

“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,” Trump wrote Tuesday on Truth Social. “This is not distinguishing Russia. In fact, it is very much making them look like “a paper tiger.'”

The stark change in tune follows the president’s face-to-face summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska last month. Trump later met with Zelensky and European leaders at the White House.

Both Putin and Zelensky shared plans to end the war, but there’s been no signed proposal and very little encouragement from the Trump administration to coax either party into signing an agreement. The president has also suggested the two world leaders meet in person.

While peace talks have stalled, Putin has struck Kyiv and sent drones into Ukrainian, Romanian and Belarussian airspace.

NATO leaders have invoked Article 4 to address the possibility of war escalation from the Kremlin.

On Tuesday, Trump said he would continue to supply weapons to the alliance for NATO to “do what they want” with them.

“We will see, but God bless, it will be so,” Zelensky said in response to Trump’s written commitments to Ukraine and its broader support system.

The two also met Tuesday on the sidelines of the UNGA.

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