The meeting between Trump and Zelensky as a change in the West's strategy against Russia. Sensation or calculation

This happened during his speech at the UN General Assembly, on the margins of the forum and after a bilateral meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

The news from New York does sound encouraging and so do the comments of politicians, experts. But what is behind the change of rhetoric in reality. And how it will affect the prospects for ending the Russian-Ukrainian war.

Trump on ending the war - Ukraine is capable of reclaiming territory

The most stunning statement concerns the fact that Ukraine can reclaim territory from Russia within its internationally recognised borders.

Trump said he fully understood the military and economic situation in Russian Federation and "Ukraine, with the support of the European Union, has every opportunity to fight and RETURN all of its territory to its original form."

This is in stark contrast to his previous statements that Ukraine has "no maps" and Russia could have captured Kiev, but allegedly the tanks went off-track and were hampered by a "swamp."

Russia is on the verge of collapse

And suddenly yesterday, Trump trolled Russia and its inability to win in three and a half years of aimless war, comparing the Russian Federation to a colossus on clay feet. He brought up Russian petrol shortages due to successful Ukrainian attacks on Russian refineries and the problems with the Russian economy.

When the people of Moscow and all the major cities, towns and districts all over Russia find out what is really going on with this war, that it is almost impossible for them to get petrol because of the long queues that are forming, and all the other things going on in their war economy, where most of their money is being spent on fighting Ukraine, which has a majestic spirit and is only getting better, Ukraine will be able to get its country back to its original form and, who knows, maybe even go further! - Trump added.

Overall, the US leader's realistic assessments are encouraging. And Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky after the bilateral meeting with the head of the White House hastened to say that now Trump is much better informed about the situation on the front, in Ukraine and now he trusts the Ukrainian vis-a-vis much more.

I am very grateful to Trump. I can't share the details now. Trump has very important information regarding the situation on the front. I provided Trump with information about the current situation on the battlefield: I wanted this from the beginning so that he would understand and feel what we felt. We talked about the demoralisation of Russian soldiers," Zelensky said during a press conference following the meeting in New York.

Will there be action?

President Zelensky believes that President Trump trusts him more now that he has realised that the information from Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin was false.

I would like to believe this and see further results, such as supplying weapons to Ukraine in sufficient volume and without delay, pressurising Russia with sanctions.

So far, discussions are still going on in the US about imposing tough sanctions against the Kremlin, and against the background of the European Union's adoption of the 19th package of anti-Russian sanctions, the question hangs in the air: when will the largest NATO partner adopt them?

But one cannot but pay tribute to Trump's stance on EU partners.

In his speech to the UN General Assembly, the US president repeated his expectation that Europe should give up Russian energy resources as soon as possible, because this is how it finances the war against itself.

China and India are the main financiers of this ongoing war - because they continue to buy Russian oil. But what is impossible to justify - even some NATO countries still haven't given up Russian energy resources.... I learned about this a fortnight ago, and I didn't like it. Think about it. They are funding a war against themselves," Trump emphasised.

Are we waiting for US sanctions?

Will we see action from the US leader himself - after all, a sanctions bill authored by fellow party member Senator Lindsey Graham with very strong sanctions capable of forcing the Kremlin to actually negotiate an end to the war has long been on the table. But the U.S. Congress is not considering the document, leaving it up to the president to decide.

It's hard to tell, because another of Trump's statements yesterday concerns the fact that the war in Ukraine looks set to last for a long time. At the same time, the U.S. leader recognises that the Russian economy is in a terrible state right now, it's collapsing.

Ukraine is doing a very good job of stopping this huge army,'' he said.

And in this contest it would have been very logical to hear from Trump at least a statement on the timing of America's sanctions to speed up the process of destruction of the aggressor country's economy. But just that was not among Trump's many decisive statements.

On NATO's resolve

Another unexpected statement draws attention: Trump said that NATO countries should shoot down Russian planes that violate its airspace. He said this while answering a question from reporters. And that's quite a strong opinion within the framework of the ongoing incidents of Russian drone attacks and violations of Alliance countries' borders by Russian warplanes. Perhaps this will put an end to the endless discussions of NATO countries - to shoot down or not? Is this already Russian aggression or not yet?

There is indeed cautious optimism about Trump's changing position. But we would like to see the same consistent actions of Washington, at least synchronised with Brussels, Paris, London and Berlin. After all, Trump has made quite decisive statements before, after which nothing in the balance of power changed. Even now he is hinting that something will be known in a month's time. And how similar it is to the way Trump kept giving Vladimir Putin "two weeks" or else something will happen.

However, Trump's own support in the US is now declining, and that's something the Republicans can't allow to happen because of the November 2026 congressional elections - so the rhetoric needs to be backed up with something real, other than Trump's seven wars won, that's no longer working.

Materials of European Pravda, UNIAN, Ukrinfom, Suspilnyi were used in preparation of the review