President Trump added new confusion to his approach to the war between Russia and Ukraine by suggesting on Tuesday that he now believed Ukraine could, with military support from NATO and the United States, regain all of the territory it has lost to Russia and restore its prewar borders.
Europeans at the United Nations General Assembly in New York were puzzling over the meaning of Mr. Trump’s head-spinning statement in a social media post, which added to his frequently shifting opinions about Russia, Ukraine and the fate of the three-and-a-half-year war. The fear among many American allies is that Mr. Trump is setting the stage to begin restoring full diplomatic and trade relations with Moscow, which has long been one of his goals and that of President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia.
After months of suggesting that Ukraine would need to give up some of its territory to secure a peace deal with Russia, Mr. Trump suddenly reversed course in his post, writing that Kyiv was in a position to “fight and WIN all of Ukraine back in its original form.” Mr. Trump’s statement came after, he said, he had gotten a chance to “fully understand” the military and economic situation. It also came hours after he had criticized Russia for its inability to defeat its smaller neighbor on the battlefield.
Earlier, Mr. Trump told reporters that NATO countries should shoot down Russian military aircraft that enter their airspace. But asked if the United States would back up its allies in that situation, he said it “depends on the circumstance.”
