EU welcomes Trump's shift

EU welcomes Trump’s shift

New York (dpa) — EU foreign affairs chief Kaja Kallas said she welcomes US President Donald Trump’s shift in his view of the conflict between Ukraine and Russia.

Trump on Tuesday said Ukraine is “in a position” to win back all of its territory lost to Russia, in what appeared to mark a significant shift from his previous position.

Trump, who met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on the sidelines of the UN General Debate in New York earlier on Tuesday, had repeatedly signalled that Kiev might have to make concessions to bring the war launched by Russia some three and a half years ago to an end.

Asked about the EU’s reaction to Trump’s comments on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York, Kallas said “we are very positive about this, because these are all the right things.”

“Yes, we should stop buying Russian energy. Yes, Ukraine should win the war and and all these other statements that [Trump] made today regarding Ukraine and Russia,” Kallas said.

Russia currently controls around a fifth of Ukrainian territory, including the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, which was illegally annexed in 2014.

While Ukraine was able to claw back territory captured in the first months of the full-scale Russian invasion in February 2022, Moscow’s forces have been putting pressure on the Ukrainian military along the entire front line for months, making incremental gains.

Zelensky has consistently rejected making territorial concessions as part of a peace deal, while Russia continues to insist on them.