Breakup with Putin pushes Trump into rebound affair

In his biggest policy shift to date, the 'peacemaker' president has declared that Ukraine could take back all its land from Russia and 'go further'.

- By Bel Trew

Donald Trump has performed what might be his biggest – and most startling – shift in foreign policy to date.

On Tuesday, after meeting with Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), he agreed with the notion that Nato countries should shoot down Russian aircraft if they enter their airspace.

Later, on his Truth Social platform, Trump suddenly declared that Ukraine could not only defeat Russia but “WIN all of Ukraine back in its original form” - and even, he concluded, “go further than that!”.

What this means in practical terms is unclear, and is likely not worth the ink to unpack. (Is Trump endorsing more Kursk-style incursions into Russian territory? Who knows.)

But after months of repeatedly expressing disappointment in his former buddy-in-chief, Russian president Vladimir Putin, Trump went as far as to describe the Russian army as a “paper tiger”.

So what has changed - and why?

First, this is a far cry from the public bust-up in the Oval Office back in February, when Trump mocked Zelensky’s military fatigues, berated him for not being thankful enough for US military aid, and shut him down because he had “done a lot of talking”.

In that painful-to-watch meeting, during which the Ukrainian ambassador held her head in her hands as the world looked on in horror, Trump and his vice-president, JD Vance, tried to bully Zelensky into accepting a ceasefire deal that would see Ukraine cede swathes of territory captured by Russia since the start of its full-scale invasion.