As Russia claims that its troops have made significant advances in eastern Ukraine this summer, Kyiv also says that the Ukrainian Armed Forces have managed to recapture significant territories back from Russia in the same area during the same period.
On 23 September, after his meeting with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in New York, US President Donald Trump questioned Russia’s economic and military strenght, calling it ’a ’paper tiger’ and unexpectedly stated that Ukraine may be able to win back its territories from Russia, and ’maybe even go further than that’.
President Zelenskyy, in an interview with Fox News said that he was ’a little surprised’ by Trump’s remarks about Ukraine’s possible return to its 1991 borders, and stating that this is a positive signal. (It is not our business to discuss whether the US president has any idea where the borders were in 1991.)
’Russia is by no means a tiger. After all, Russia is more associated with a bear. There are no paper bears.’, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov responded to remarks made by US President adding that, Russia ’continues its dialogue with the US as before and values Trump’s determination to achieve peace in Ukraine’.
According to The Wall Street Journal, minor gains on the battlefield and persuasion from advisers including Trump’s Special Envoy for Ukraine Keith Kellogg and new UN ambassador Mike Waltz and, Ukrainian President Zelenskyy have pushed Trump to make more favourable statements about Kyiv’s chances of success on the line of contact. The sources of the WSJ added that despite the change in rhetoric, Trump has not yet altered his policy on Ukraine and, although he continues to allow weapon sales, he restricts the use of American-made weapons to attack within sovereign Russian territory.
Apparently as a result of his new friendship with the US President, in his interview with Fox News Zelenskyy rejected all accusations that he is centralising power, avoiding elections or failing to address corruption in Ukraine. He said that holding elections ’would be challenging but possible’ if there was a ceasefire. He also said that establishing a truce would require support from Ukraine’s partners and security guarantees.
It should be noted that this ’would be challenging but possible’ is actually very far from what Zelenskyy has so far insisted on, namely that his country’s constitution does not allow elections to be held during wartime. On the other hand, the Kremlin responded with a humorous remark about Russia being a paper tiger saying that it is much better to refer to Russia as a bear.
Looking at the broader picture, the key point is the ultimate outcome, namely that, although very slowly and probably with a lot of further U-turns, the negotiations and behind-the-scenes meetings led by the US are actually moving towards a ceasefire in Ukraine, with an additional achievement of President Zelensky expressing his willingness to hold elections.
This progress cannot be ignored when it comes to Ukraine and the accusations that Trump has so far failed to end the war, adding that the leaders of the European Union should have been more patient and had better waited until the ’American showman’ succeeds in bringing peace to Ukraine. Instead, they are rushing to include Ukraine – a country at war with Russia – in the bloc, and thereby dragging Europe into a conflict with the Russian Federation.
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