October 20, 2025, 8:09 p.mOctober 20, 2025, 8:09 p.m
Donald Trump has little confidence that Ukraine will win the war against Russia.Image: keystone
In his own words, US President Donald Trump does not believe that Ukraine will win the war against the Russian attackers – but he does not rule it out completely either.
During an appearance with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Trump was asked about his month-old statement that Ukraine, with support from the European Union, could be able to take back the territories occupied by Russia.
Now when asked about it he said: “You could still win. I don’t think they will – but they still could. I never said they would win, I said they could win.” War is “a very strange thing,” he continued. «A lot of bad things happen. A lot of good things are happening.”
Freeze front line
At the weekend, Trump advocated that the current front line should be frozen in order to end the fighting in Ukraine. Russia and Ukraine should remain where their troops are currently located, anything else would be “very difficult to negotiate,” Trump told journalists on a flight with his government plane Air Force One. The Donbass should be divided along the front, he argued. He wants to meet Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin in Budapest soon.
Such a proposal, which Russia had already made and stated conditions for it, could be discussed at the summit between Trump and Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin planned soon in Budapest. However, the Kremlin still sees a need for clarification. “There is still a lot of housework to be done,” said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, according to the Russian state news agency Tass. Above all, the foreign ministries of both countries now have to clarify a number of open questions.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and his Russian colleague Sergei Lavrov reportedly spoke on the phone in both capitals to prepare for a possible meeting between the presidents. There is currently no date for this. In any case, the foreign ministers should meet beforehand.
At the same time, Kremlin spokesman Peskov emphasized that Russia’s position in the conflict had not changed. Although he did not elaborate, it is clear that Russia claims at least the regions it has conquered so far. Moscow has already annexed Donbass and incorporated it into its constitution. Peskov was reacting to Trump’s statements about ending the fighting along the front and starting peace talks.
Before Trump’s comments, the Financial Times reported that Trump had urged Zelensky at the meeting on Friday to give up the entire Donbass region in eastern Ukraine to end the war. Completely annexing the Donbass is one goal of the Russian war of aggression launched in February 2022. Russia currently controls a large part of it, but not the entire area.
In an interview broadcast on Fox News on Sunday, Trump also said that Putin would “take something.” He described the territories occupied by Russia with the word “property”. “I mean, they fought – and he has a lot of property.” (sda/dpa)