A briefing on a planned Ukrainian offensive requiring US intelligence support sparked Donald Trump’s dramatic U-turn on the conflict, according to a report.
In the lead up to his meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky at the UN , the president met with US officials who advocated a tougher stance on Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Ukraine envoy Keith Kellogg and new UN ambassador Mike Waltz were also present in the meeting, the newspaper said.
Intelligence officials briefed them on the latest situation on the battlefield, noting that Russia has made little progress in recent years, two people familiar with the situation said.
This week has seen a dramatic U-turn in Trump’s position on the war, from urging Kyiv to make territorial concessions to insisting it can win back all of the territory captured by Russia since 2022. However, officials cautioned that the shift appears to be rhetorical so far – as the US president still restricts US weapons from striking deep inside 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 posted on Truth Social after meeting Zelensky. “Why not?”
US officials said the statement aimed to pressure Putin to make a peace deal.
The position is a stark contrast to the notorious Oval Office meeting in February, where Trump launched an unprecedented public assault on Zelensky. Trump angrily told his counterpart that he couldn’t win the war against Russia, saying: “You don’t have the cards right now” and “your country is in big trouble… you’re not winning this.”
It comes as the US president continues to grow impatient with Putin’s refusal to work towards peace. No tangible progress has been made since the two leaders met in Alaska last month.
Trump “doesn’t feel like [the Russians] are putting enough on the table to end the war,” vice president JD Vance said on Wednesday while speaking to reporters in North Carolina, adding that the US president believes the war is “very bad” for Russia.
Russia’s economy is also beginning to struggling under the weight of its war efforts, with Putin again forced to raise taxes on Wednesday.
But Trump’s change of heart may not translate to policy shifts. Trump remains adamant that US will not sanction Russia while European countries persist in buying Russian oil and gas.
While Trump has publicly supported European Nato action against Russian aircraft, he said US involvement “would depend” on the circumstances and has consistently sought to portray the war as Europe’s problem.
