Trump pushes Zelenskyy to retake territories that Ukraine failed to regain during 2023 counteroffensive – CNN
After U.S. President Donald Trump shifted his rhetoric on Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy is no longer being asked to give up the territories for which Ukraine has bled. Instead, he is now under pressure to retake from Russia the territories that could not be regained during the 2023 counteroffensive.
CNN reported this in an article, according to Censor.NET.
"The head-spinning twists emerge so frequently in US President Donald Trump’s Ukraine policy they have become mundane. On Tuesday, Trump suggested that Ukraine could reclaim all occupied land because of NATO arms supplies, their will to fight and Russia’s economic frailty. All this from a man who once said Ukraine should cede land to its invader and rolled out the red carpet for Russia’s President Vladimir Putin.
The article noted that Trump’s new position appears, at first glance, to be good news for Kyiv. The U.S. leader’s rhetoric acknowledges the "fighting spirit" of Ukrainians and supports their maximalist position on regaining full control of all territory occupied by Russia.
It also underpins arming Ukraine to the teeth with American NATO weapons. The rhetoric underscores that Moscow remains, in military terms, a "paper tiger" after three and a half years of trying to seize more than 20% of a country it thought it could conquer in a week.
But that is where the substantial good news largely ends.
"Trump no longer wants the war to end now. He thinks it could go on until Ukraine retakes what it almost certainly cannot have. It is fair to say Kyiv privately would like the war to come to a just and lasting end tomorrow, given the acute manpower issues and slow territorial losses it has faced for months.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has gone from one impossible demand to another. He is no longer being asked to make unpalatable concessions of land Ukraine has lost thousands in the defense of. Instead, he is now being goaded into the impossible retaking of land Ukraine could not get back in the summer of 2023, during a heavily prepped counter-offensive. Neither option is an easy deliverable that prolongs Zelensky’s position or leaves Ukraine strong," the article said.
In response to Trump’s comments, the Kremlin said that "even a poorly qualified specialist" could see that Russian troops are making progress.
