White House explains Trump’s sharp shift on Ukraine and his new stance toward Putin

According to him, Trump’s new statements are “negotiating tactics.” The publication noted that by endorsing Kyiv’s ambitions to defeat Russia, Trump surprised world leaders and inspired Ukrainian officials.

Trump’s apparent shift in favor of fully restoring Ukraine’s territory demonstrates his frustration with Putin, a senior White House official told The Washington Post.

At the same time, during the U.N. General Assembly, where Trump met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, he did not show a serious change in U.S. policy toward Kyiv, another official speaking on condition of anonymity told the outlet.

Still, the fact that Trump — who had earlier said Ukraine would have to give up part of its land to end the war — declared that Kyiv “has every opportunity to fight and return all of Ukraine in its original form” signaled a significant breakthrough.

Just hours later, however, Secretary of State Marco Rubio told the U.N. Security Council that Russia’s war against Ukraine would end at the negotiating table, not on the battlefield. That statement reaffirmed current U.S. policy and signaled that Trump’s new approach is not being implemented in practice. According to the White House official, everything the U.S. president does is viewed “through the prism of ‘How do we make a deal?’”

Trump “has long been very dissatisfied with Putin,” the official told reporters.

“He just says: look, if Putin does not want peace, then let the war continue, and we will keep selling weapons to NATO,” the official said, explaining Trump’s remarks.

The U.S. president is still considering imposing sanctions against Russia.

“He is tired of Putin,” The Washington Post quoted the senior White House official as saying.

On Sept. 23, Trump wrote on Truth Social after his meeting with Zelenskyy at the U.N. General Assembly that Ukraine, with EU support, could regain all its territories occupied by Russia.

Later, during a meeting in New York at the U.N. General Assembly with French President Emmanuel Macron, Trump reaffirmed his belief that Ukraine must reclaim all the lands currently under temporary Russian occupation.