US president Donald Trump has said Nato should shoot down Russian warplanes violating the alliance’s skies after incursions were reported in Poland, Romania and Estonia.
On being asked by reporters whether he thinks Nato nations should shoot down Russian aircraft in such circumstances, the president said: “Yes, I do.”
His remarks came shortly after he held a bilateral meeting with Volodymyr Zelensky on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, following which he changed tone and rhetoric on the war in Ukraine and said Russia was “fighting aimlessly”.
Trump wrote on Truth Social that Ukraine is in a position to fight and “win all of Ukraine back in its original form” and called Russia a “paper tiger”.
“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.”
“Putin and Russia are in BIG Economic trouble, and this is the time for Ukraine to act,” Trump added.
Trump criticises Russia as ‘paper tiger’, says Ukraine can win back lost territory
Donald Trump has said Russia is fighting the war in Ukraine aimlessly without making any gains as he called Moscow a “paper tiger”.
“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.’,” the US president said in a post on Truth Social.
He also appeared to row back on recent remarks about the ground situation in the war – his administration has repeatedly suggested Ukraine is losing and needs to make a deal for its own survival.
“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. 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. Why not?,” Trump said.
He ended his post by saying: “Putin and Russia are in BIG Economic trouble, and this is the time for Ukraine to act. 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!”
Trump says Nato can shoot down Putin’s planes violating airspace
US president Donald Trump has said Nato should shoot down Russian warplanes violating the alliance’s skies after incursions were reported in Poland, Romania and Estonia.
On being asked by reporters whether he thinks Nato nations should shoot down Russian aircraft in such circumstances, the president said: “Yes, I do.”
Estonia on Friday confirmed three Russian MiG-31 fighter jets violated its airspace for 12 minutes before Italian fighter jets escorted them out.
The week before, some 20 Russian drones entered Polish airspace, prompting Nato jets to shoot some of them down and the alliance to beef up the defence of Europe’s eastern flank.
Ukraine strikes Russian oil sites, military says
Ukrainian forces struck two Russian oil distribution facilities in the Bryansk and Samara regions overnight, Kyiv’s general staff said on Tuesday.
In Samara, the military hit a line production station that mixes Russian oil for its flagship Urals oil grade for export, the general staff said on Telegram.
In Bryansk, it hit a line production station of a pipeline critical for Russian army supplies, it said.
“The extent of the damage is being determined,” it added.
Ukraine has in recent weeks renewed its campaign of long-range drone attacks on Russian oil production sites, systematically targeting key facilities to try to reduce Moscow’s export revenues and frontline supplies.
The Russian defence ministry said on Telegram that its units destroyed Ukrainian drones over Bryansk and Samara. There was no immediate comment from Russia issued publicly.
Kyiv’s troops also hit a military airfield in Russia-occupied Crimea, Ukraine’s general staff said, adding that two planes were hit.
Trump fires shot at Putin for his ‘bad leadership’ in UN speech
Donald Trump has now begun talking about Ukraine in his speech at the UN general assembly on Tuesday.
He has taken the chance to fire a shot at Russian president Vladimir Putin for what he described as his “bad leadership”.
“It was supposed to be a quick little skirmish, it’s not making Russia look good, it’s making them look bad,” Trump told world leaders.
“It shows you what leadership is, what bad leadership can do to a country. The only question now is how many lives will be needlessly lost on both sides,” he added claiming that Russian forces have been killing between 5,000 to 7,000 young soldiers “on both sides every single week”.
Russia systematically tortured Ukrainian civilians in over 100 detention centres – UN
Russia has systematically tortured Ukrainian civilians in over 100 detention centres in Russia and occupied Ukraine since the start of the war, the UN human rights office said on Tuesday.
Its report detailed cases of mock executions, electric shocks and the use of prolonged stress positions on Ukrainian citizens for non-criminal acts, such as criticising Russia’s invasion, which it said had proved fatal in some cases.
“It’s widespread and systematic torture. It was documented in every region of occupied territory, as well as dozens of regions inside the Russian Federation,” Danielle Bell, head of the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, told a Geneva press briefing, presenting the 22-page report.
Ukraine says some 15,000 civilians have been detained by Russia since 2022 of whom at least 1,800 remain in detention. Bell said her office had confirmed at least 400 ongoing detentions, with the real scale probably much greater.
Zelensky asks for Trump’s help with China
Volodymyr Zelensky has said he believes that US president Donald Trump could help change Chinese president Xi Jinping’s stance on Russia’s war in Ukraine.
“I think that President Trump can change the attitude of Xi Jinping to this war, because China, we don’t feel that China wants to finish this war,” Zelensky told Fox News after his meeting Trump on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
Acknowledging concern about Russian energy supplies to India and China, Zelensky said he believes Trump and European allies would work to ensure a closer, stronger relationship with India.
“I think we have to do everything not to withdraw Indians and they will change their attitude to Russian energy sector,” Zelensky said.
“With China, it’s more difficult because… for today, it’s not in their interests not to support Russia.”
The US has highlighted China and India as contributors to the Russia-Ukraine war due to their ongoing purchases of oil from Moscow.
Poland to reopen border with Belarus after major Russia-led military exercise
Border crossings between Poland and Belarus will be reopened on midnight from Wednesday to Thursday, Polish prime minister Donald Tusk said on Tuesday.
Poland closed its border with Belarus this month as a result of Russia-led military exercises taking place in Belarus.
Nato alliance and European Union member Poland’s concerns about the “Zapad” (West) war games were reinforced when some 21 Russian drones entered its airspace on the night of September 9-10.
“The conclusion of these exercises reduces – although I can’t say eliminates – various threats, and taking into account the economic interests of Polish carriers and railways, we concluded that this measure has served its purpose,” Tusk told the government.
“If tensions increase, we will not hesitate and we will make appropriate decisions.”
Rutte says Russian incursions either intentional or ‘blatant incompetence’
Mark Rutte, Nato’s secretary general, has been speaking to reporters about Russia’s repeated incursions into Nato territory.
Either they were intentional, or they were an example of “blatant incompetence”, Mr Rutte said.
But he says Nato had not immediately assessed a threat when Nato jets escorted Russian jets out of Estonian airspace last week.
“We will always assess the danger, whether it is a direct threat to our overall defence, our posture and (…) we will always act accordingly, but in this case there was no immediate threat assessed,” he said during a news conference, referring to Estonia.
Use Ukraine’s counter drone expertise to protect Nato’s borders, says Lithuania
Lithuania has called for Ukraine’s wartime military experience of downing Russian drones to be integrated into Nato’s plans for a “drone wall”.
“We have big holes in our EU defence. We lack the right equipment that would allow us to detect drones, to follow them, to track them, and then to destroy them. We lack it,” Lithuanian foreign minister Kestutis Budrys told Reuters on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.
Budrys said Ukraine was fighting back drones every night and had the integrated systems to counter drones.
The EU is looking at how to create a “drone wall” along the EU’s eastern border – a project infused with urgency by a Russian drone incursion into Poland.
“We have to bring this technology to the front line and to build it there, build it there so that it will be effective together with Ukrainians,” Budrys said.
Speaking on Russian incursions into Nato airspace, Budrys said Moscow was using the alliance’s hesitations and debate on how to respond to expand the grey zone around the conflict.
“We have to also very clearly articulate and show to Russia that further escalation from their side will bring a harsher response,” he said.
Analysts and officials said the incursion exposed gaps in Europe’s and Nato’s ability to protect against drones, although Polish and Nato forces shot down several of them, albeit using expensive air defence systems and warplanes.
