Shaun
US President Donald Trump’s “Yes, I do” to the most pointed and relevant question in the Russia-Ukraine war has marked a significant moment in his eight-month-old presidency. With Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy by his side, POTUS was asked if he thinks NATO countries should shoot down Russian aircraft if they enter their airspace: “Yes, I do.”
Pressed further, and asked if he would back up NATO allies, he said it would “depend” on the circumstances. He said he heard about the Danish situation but didn’t have details. Asked for an update on talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin and if he still trusts him, Trump said, “I’ll let you know in about a month from now.”
And, it came just after his 56-minute speech at the UN General Assembly’s iconic green podium, where he blamed India, China and NATO for buying Russian energy and funding the war machine.
What is significant is that Trump said in his UN speech to world leaders, that he thought a resolution to this conflict would be “the easiest” because he has had a good relationship with Putin. Trump said he is open to imposing more sanctions on Russia and urged Europe to join in.
At the UN, Trump said the war in Ukraine was making Russia “look bad” because it was “supposed to be a quick little skirmish”. “It shows you what leadership is, what bad leadership can do to a country,” he said. “The only question now is how many lives will be needlessly lost on both sides.”
And, Trump wrote that he believed Ukraine could win back all territory lost to 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 wrote. “With time, patience, and the financial support of Europe and, in particular, NATO, the original Borders from where this War started, is very much an option.”
Taken together, the statements reflect how the needle has moved from the time when Trump in May described Putin as a “nice gentleman”, even defending him on some occasions, had a disastrous meeting with Zelenskyy in the White House where he had openly berated him as a “dictator” who was “gambling with World War III;”, choked off military supplies, cut off intelligence sharing with Ukraine and had belittled NATO and called it “obsolete”.
Trump’s see-saw and the new White House policy-making, his latest comments show how the American President — despite the red carpet and the shared car-ride in Alaska — has been won over by Zelenskyy and the European leaders over the last six months of diplomatic spadework.
The backing of all European leaders to Zelenskyy in August — seated in the Oval Office wooden chairs in front of Trump’s resolute desk, some mocked them as Zelenskyy’s European bodyguards, to the Finnish President’s conversations with Trump over a long game of Golf — had an impact.
And Zelenskyy’s own approach where he softened — from being confrontational to Trump and VP J D Vance in February to yesterday when said: “Thank you for this meeting and thank you for your efforts to stop this war… Just now we’ll have a meeting about Ukrainian children. Thank you for Melania’s personal involvement in this topic. This is very important. I will brief Mr President and his team what’s going on on the battlefield. We have good news. Of course, we want to solve the war.”
This holds a lesson and a template for world leaders and countries, including India and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, battling with Trump’s tantrums. Quiet, behind-the-scenes, painstaking diplomacy and crafting a new accommodating language can move the most unpredictable American President, who says what he means and means what he says.
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