Ukrainians meet Trump's latest about-face on war with a shrug

ZAPORIZHZHIA, Ukraine/KYIV (Reuters) -Ukrainians met Donald Trump's dramatic rhetorical shift on the war with Russia with a shrug, noting it was not his first change of mind and wondering when the U.S. president would back words with actions to force Moscow's hand.

Trump said late on Tuesday that he believed Ukraine could retake all of its land occupied by Russia, an about-turn from his earlier insistence that it would need to give up territory in exchange for peace.

But there was no sign that Trump would help Ukraine achieve that goal, notably through tough new sanctions that Kyiv and its European allies believe to be the quickest way to force Russian President Vladimir Putin to abandon his maximalist demands.

"I don't believe that Donald Trump can do anything. He's together with Putin," said Liudmyla Shelukh, sitting outside a shelter in the southern city of Zaporizhzhia set up for people who have fled their homes because of the fighting.

"There is no way I trust him," added the 46-year-old, who is originally from Berdiansk, now under Russian occupation.

TRUMP MORE DISTRUSTED AFTER SUMMIT WITH PUTIN

Nina Lytvynenko, sitting nearby, echoed the sense of mistrust many Ukrainians feel towards Trump after he hosted Putin at a summit in Alaska, partly blamed Ukraine for Russia's invasion, and said the U.S. would not pay for further military aid.

"He promises one thing, and then does another," said the 49-year-old.

Russia currently occupies about 20% of Ukrainian territory in the south and east of the country, and its military, which Putin said numbered some 700,000 soldiers along the front line, is grinding out small gains in attritional fighting.

Ukraine has been unable to reverse those advances for more than a year, hampered by a smaller army with far fewer resources and reliant on Western military support.

Trump entered office on a pledge to swiftly end the war, now in its fourth year, but diplomatic efforts have stalled.

Meetings with both the Russian and Ukrainian leaders have failed to pave the way for the high-level talks Ukrainian Volodymyr Zelenskiy has sought with Putin.

Trump, after meeting Zelenskiy in New York, urged Ukraine to step up its fight against Russia, which he said on Truth Social was in "BIG Economic trouble."

The Ukrainian military has carried out increasingly frequent long-range strikes, particularly on Russian oil facilities.

TRUMP MAY BE DISENGAGING FROM UKRAINE

Yet Washington has shown no appetite for boosting its military support. In the same statement, Trump said European and NATO backing would be critical to Kyiv's effort.

"We don't know what the president will think in two or three weeks, or what we'll hear from him next," said Lesia Ogryzko of the Sahaidachnyi Security Center in Kyiv. "He might even decide to abandon the idea of a peace process altogether."

Sergiy Solodkyy, director of the New Europe Center think-tank in Kyiv, said Ukraine and its allies have successfully spent months "arming" Trump with information countering more Russia-sympathetic voices in his administration.

An infamous White House blow-up in February between Trump and Zelenskiy had threatened to plunge ties between Kyiv and its biggest military backer into jeopardy.

Oleksandr Merezhko, a lawmaker from Zelenskiy's ruling party who heads parliament's foreign affairs committee, said he hoped Trump's rhetoric meant Ukraine would have more leeway to strike Russia with U.S.-provided long-range missiles.

Still, few Ukrainians seemed to place much store in Trump.

"This is a person who changes his mind maybe once a week," said Oleksandr, a 36-year-old member of the armed forces who, in line with military custom, declined to give his last name.

"So there's no need to take his statements seriously."

(Reporting by Dan Peleschuk, Yuliia Dysa and Max Hunder in Kyiv; Additional reporting by Serhiy Chalyi in Zaporizhzhia and Vladyslav Smilianets in Kyiv; Writing by Dan Peleschuk; Editing by Mike Collett-White and Gareth Jones)