Plot twist: Trump has upgraded his language. The U.S. president publicly labeled Russia the aggressor in Ukraine, blamed it for higher battlefield losses, and then did what he does best — promise big moves if Europe holds the line.
KYIV — President Donald Trump has, at long last, publicly called Russia the aggressor in its war with Ukraine, signaling a noticeable shift in tone toward Moscow. He cited recent troop losses and told reporters, “8,000 soldiers have died this week, from both countries. Some more from Russia, but when you’re the aggressor, you lose more.”
It’s a striking pivot: earlier this year the administration had declined to label Moscow’s invasion as aggression, voting with Russia and North Korea to oppose a U.N. motion on Ukraine’s territorial integrity and resisting a G7 statement that called Russia an aggressor. Trump has even blamed Ukraine at times, saying in April, “You don’t start a war against someone 20 times your size and then hope that people give you some missiles.”
But over the summer Mr. Trump’s tone toward Putin hardened: Washington stepped up pressure on the Kremlin as efforts to get Putin to the negotiating table with Volodymyr Zelenskyy hit a wall. In public remarks Sunday, Trump acknowledged the difficulty of the situation: “I stopped seven wars, and I thought this one was going to be easy for me, but this has turned out to be tough,” he said, adding the suggestion that he has to do most of the talking because the two leaders “hate each other so much they can’t breathe.”
With that tougher posture failing so far to drag Putin into talks, the White House faces growing calls to ramp up sanctions on Russia. Trump said he plans tougher penalties but framed them as conditional — he wants Europe to stop buying Russian oil and toughen its own sanctions first. “I don’t want them to buy oil,” he said, criticizing some European purchases and arguing the continent must do more.
That’s not just rhetorical muscle: U.S. officials, including Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, have voiced plans to displace Russian gas and choke off Moscow’s funding for the war. As Wright put it, “The more we can strangle Russia’s ability to fund this murderous war, the better for all of us.”
