There are growing signs of a tectonic shift in U.S. President Donald Trump’s publicly expressed attitude toward Russia over the conduct of its war in Ukraine and its increasing belligerence toward the rest of Europe. Following his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska last month, Trump seemed far more amenable to Moscow’s point of view. However, the American leader’s messaging appears to be moving strongly in favor of Kyiv, calling Russia a “paper tiger,” and massive policy shifts could come very soon as a result.
Trump now says that with the proper support, Ukraine can win back the territory Russia has gained. He also appears more willing to provide Kyiv with long-range cruise missiles and has called for NATO to shoot down Russian aircraft intruding into alliance airspace. Whether all this represents a real change of heart or merely a negotiating tactic remains unclear, but either way, Trump has altered his public stance about the conflict dramatically.
The latest indication of a reversal in Trump’s position came on Friday after reports emerged that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky asked Trump for Tomahawk Land Attack Cruise Missiles (TLAMs) during a meeting Tuesday between the two on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly meeting. Axios reported that Zelensky said Trump had a positive reaction to his request for an unnamed long-range cruise missile.
Obtaining the TLAMs, with a range of about 1,000 miles and packing a 1,000-pound warhead, would give Ukraine a munition that can strike major targets deep into Russia, putting major cities like Moscow and St. Petersburg at risk. Providing these weapons would be in stark contrast to the Trump administration’s previous stance on denying Ukraine long-range cruise missiles. In addition, Trump has in the past also throttled the flow of armaments to Kyiv, though more recently the U.S. president worked out a plan to sell NATO weapons that it could then turn over to Ukraine.
The meeting with Zelensky seems to have had a large impact on Trump’s worldview. So too has a recent incursion into Estonian airspace by Russian MiG-31 Foxhound interceptors and a wave of drones into Poland, some of which were shot down. After spending time with Zelensky, Trump made a surprising post on his social media site, indicating a major change, at least publicly, in his attitude about the Russia-Ukraine war.
“After getting to know and fully understand the Ukraine/Russia Military and Economic situation and, after seeing the Economic trouble it is causing Russia, I think Ukraine, with the support of the European Union, is in a position to fight and WIN all of Ukraine back in its original form,” Trump exclaimed on Truth Social. “Russia has been fighting aimlessly for three and a half years a War that should have taken a Real Military Power less than a week to win. This is not distinguishing Russia. In fact, it is very much making them look like ‘a paper tiger.’”
“Putin and Russia are in BIG Economic trouble, and this is the time for Ukraine to act,” Trump added. “In any event, I wish both Countries well. We will continue to supply weapons to NATO for NATO to do what they want with them. Good luck to all!”
Not surprisingly, the Kremlin pushed back on Trump’s paper tiger claim.
“Russia is in no way a tiger,” spokesman Dmitry Peskov, with a degree of levity, told a local radio station. “Still, Russia is more compared with a bear. There are no paper bears.”
Following Trump’s “paper tiger” comment, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov met with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
“The meeting lasted roughly 50 minutes,” ABC News reported. “Lavrov didn’t respond to questions as he left, including whether he was concerned about the shift in tone from Trump or whether the U.S. president had turned his back on Russia.”
A spokesperson for Rubio released a short statement after the meeting, only saying that Rubio “reiterated President Trump’s call for the killing to stop and the need for Moscow to take meaningful steps toward a durable resolution of the Russia-Ukraine war,” the network noted.
Meanwhile, the Kremlin on Friday lashed out at suggestions that Russian planes would be shot down for violating NATO airspace.
“You know, I don’t even want to talk about this,” Peskov said. “It’s a very irresponsible statement.”
“It’s very irresponsible,” he added, “because accusations against Russia that its military aircraft violated someone’s airspace and intruded into someone’s skies are groundless. No convincing evidence has been presented.”
Peskov’s comments came in the wake of a report that European diplomats told their Russian counterparts that shooting down aircraft is on the table for further airspace violations.
“At a tense meeting in Moscow, British, French and German envoys addressed their concerns about an incursion by three MiG-31 fighter jets over Estonia last week, Bloomberg News reported on Thursday, citing anonymous officials. “Following the conversation, they concluded that the violation had been a deliberate tactic ordered by Russian commanders.”
Also on Thursday, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte concurred with Trump that Russian aircraft should be fired upon when entering alliance skies.
“If so necessary. So I totally agree here with President Trump: if so necessary,” Rutte said in an interview on Fox & Friends. The NATO leader added that alliance militaries are trained to assess such threats and determine whether they can escort Russian planes out of allied territory or take further action.
Amid this growing tension, Swedish authorities reported that a mystery drone flew near a military base late Thursday night, the latest in a wave of such incidents in the region where a Russian connection has not been ruled out, according to Danish officials.
The most recent drone sighting took place a few kilometers from the Naval Base in Karlskrona, according to the Swedish SVT news outlet. While not mentioning Russia specifically, local police say there is a “clear connection” in this case to the drones recently spotted over Norway and Denmark that caused airport shutdowns and were considered an “attack” by Danish authorities.
While Trump seems to be publicly moving away from Putin and toward Zelensky, the mercurial American leader’s positions have shifted before. Given that, both Kyiv and Moscow are no doubt waiting to see if these stark changes in attitude result in real action or are merely just another move in Trump’s ‘art of the deal.’
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