From Unian:
""The Fateful War" and the Sabbath of Fascists – How the Kremlin Responded to Trump
Andrey Popov, 24.09.25
"Finally, Trump is ours," Ukrainians thought, after the American leader's latest statements and posts, in which he, for the first time, publicly takes Ukraine's side, stops "equating" aggressor and victim, and even says that with European assistance, Ukraine can reclaim "all its territories and move forward," since the Russian Armed Forces are a "paper tiger."
It's almost like "Drang nach Osten 2.0" now. What's not to be happy about? However, the main question is how long this rhetoric will last. Because it's long been obvious that Trump, in most cases, supports the opinion of the person he spoke to last. For example, after his conversation with Zelenskyy, he suddenly became "pro-Ukrainian," and after his embrace with Putin in Alaska, he made completely pro-Russian statements.
So, what matters is whether his words are followed by real actions. To do this, we need to evaluate his other statements. And also, we need to see how Europeans, Russians, and Ukrainians themselves react to this sudden shift in Washington's position.
So how did Europeans react? Confused, but hopeful (everyone except Fico and, especially, Orbán, for whom the Putin-Trump pre-election tension is a nightmare)... As for military threats to NATO's eastern flank, Western media (primarily Scandinavian) are already describing an "orc" invasion not as hypothetical, but increasingly as inevitable, against the backdrop of almost daily air provocations and cyberattacks from the Kremlin.
In fact, these "hybrid" provocative attacks on Poland and Estonia, attempts to jam the GPS signals of European officials over the Baltics, and so on, were likely one of the reasons for Trump's shift in rhetoric. Because it can no longer be ignored.
Support, at least verbal, is needed. That's why Trump said what he believed he had to say—to reassure Eastern and Northern Europeans, whose main indicator of support has traditionally been their attitude toward Ukraine and the Ukrainian resistance.
Ukraine, of course, also officially supported this sentiment at the General Assembly in New York (we haven't felt such unity in a long time), but there wasn't much enthusiasm. Rather, there was a certain, albeit positive, confusion. Why? Because Trump didn't say he would increase aid, didn't provide any specifics regarding new support programs for Ukraine and Europe, and didn't even mention the Biden-era support programs, under which the US has yet to provide us with approximately $5 billion in weapons under presidential authority (meaning, Trump's signature is all that's needed).
Instead, the American president has effectively "shifted the buck." Now Trump says Ukraine's fate is no longer in his hands, but in the hands of the Europeans and, so to speak, "EuroNATO" (the European part of the alliance), and he's washing his hands of it and is only willing to sell them weapons at a 10% markup.
He's essentially trying to bait Ukraine and the EU: "You said you were capable of military resistance and weren't prepared to make concessions as part of Trump's peace proposals? Well, prove on the ground that you can stop Russia, and we'll profit from it," the American leader seems to be saying. However, this is already significant progress. After all, it's better to have no mediator at all than someone like Trump in Alaska.
The supply of American weapons at European expense... and non-interference in our affairs is, in fact, worth a lot to Ukraine. This is in contrast to Biden's habitual "manual control" of the war through the delivery or withholding of specific weapons to the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
The Ukrainian counteroffensive in the south, for example. The White House openly sabotaged it, only providing the first tanks for the counteroffensive, which took place in the spring, in the fall. The same thing happened with Ukrainian attempts to dislodge the Russian oil industry—Biden and Sullivan immediately cut off that opportunity. However, on the other hand, the former US president provided significant support, without which Ukraine would certainly not have survived.
But now, without such attempts at manipulation, Kyiv has a free hand to strike Russia—but only with its own resources. What's there to manipulate if you're not giving anything? It's worth remembering that Trump himself, early in his term, tried to influence us by limiting arms supplies, but it achieved nothing. Ukraine didn't collapse, as he thought, and didn't capitulate under Russia's terms.
Those restrictions are still in effect today—it's just that Europeans are now allowed to purchase weapons commercially. This means Trump has virtually no leverage over Ukraine, and halting exports to Europe, the largest buyer of American weapons, is a blow not to Ukrainians or Europeans, but to Americans—to American manufacturers, who are among the sponsors of Trump himself and the Republican Party...
It was for this reason, and not just for reasons of solidarity and fairness, that Republicans began increasingly criticizing Trump for his weakness to Putin's "charms." Only a lazy (or feeble-minded) congressman failed to speak out in support of Ukraine and the resumption of cooperation with the EU, NATO, and even the UN.
With his speech at the General Assembly, Trump is signaling a very important shift in foreign policy, one that could be described as a "comeback with caveats," as he's still trying to at least partially "rewire" the world to his advantage. He simply understands that his previous attempt to achieve his goal by "storming" failed and that he needs to act less brazenly, and most importantly, with partners rather than alone.
In fact, the search for external partners and internal political contradictions, against the backdrop of threats from the Russian Federation to Europe and the Kremlin's virtual inability to achieve its "North-West Military objectives," led to a change in the American president's rhetoric.
The statements from Russians against this backdrop are also interesting... Everyone is saying it was some kind of "temporary dizziness," and Trump will soon return to his old ways. The notorious "telegram radical" Medvedev... declared, "He's not like that," and all because he allegedly entered some "Banderite alternative reality" in New York. "In this (alternate) reality, Trump's predecessors, Obama and Biden, have been living happily ever after. But Trump is different! I have no doubt he'll return. He always does," said Putin's stand-in...
What should Ukraine do? Make the most of the situation... Our hands have been untied, and now we can fight with both, although not on par with the Russian Federation... If we withstand the blow, the enemy may not be able to endure."
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