President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky says U.S. President Donald Trump could be a ‘game-changer’ for Ukraine.Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
U.S. President Donald Trump shifted his rhetoric about the war in Ukraine on Tuesday, saying on social media that he believes Ukraine can win back all of the territory Russia has taken since its invasion, although he gave no indication of how that would affect U.S. policy.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said there was an understanding that Trump was ready to provide security guarantees for Ukraine after the war ends, adding that Trump could be a “game-changer” for Ukraine.
“All of us, we understand that President Trump is ready to give Ukraine security guarantees after this war will finish,” Zelensky said.
Earlier in the day, in his first in-person speech to the UN General Assembly since 2019, Trump accused countries recognizing the State of Palestine of giving “rewards” to “Hamas terrorists” in a United Nations speech in which he also repeatedly denied the existence of climate change and berated the international body for helping migrants.
Mr. Trump took aim Tuesday at the string of countries that have extended recognition to Palestine in the past several days. These include Canada, Britain, Australia, Portugal and France, bringing the number of UN members recognizing Palestine to 156 of 193.
U.S. President Donald Trump told world leaders on Tuesday during an address at the United Nations General Assembly that recognizing a Palestinian state is encouraging the ‘continued conflict’ and a ‘reward to Hamas.’
Reuters
“As if to encourage continued conflict, some of this body is seeking to unilaterally recognize a Palestinian state. The rewards would be too great for Hamas terrorists, for their atrocities,” he said.
Hamas, which perpetrated the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on Israel that led to the devastating war in Gaza, is not the recognized government of Palestine.
Mr. Trump also reiterated a call for Hamas to release all 20 of the hostages it still holds from Oct. 7 attacks, at once, along with 38 bodies of dead hostages. “We want them all back,” he said.
He also complained that other countries are not putting enough pressure on Russia to end its invasion of Ukraine; that the UN had not awarded him a contract to renovate its New York headquarters two decades ago; and that both his Teleprompter and an escalator in the building were not working.
But the President spent the bulk of his 56-minute speech warning other countries to do more to stop migration and to cease efforts to decarbonize their economies, urging them to embrace the use of coal and other fossil fuels again.
Carney defends decision to recognize Palestinian statehood in UN speech
“It’s the greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world, in my opinion,” Mr. Trump said of attempts to stop climate change. “The carbon footprint is a hoax made up by people with evil intentions.”
On immigration, Mr. Trump criticized the UN for its work supporting asylum seekers and refugees.
“The United Nations is funding an assault on Western countries and their borders,” he said, warning that European countries were “being overwhelmed by people they have never even seen before, with different customs, religions,” many of whom want to bring “sharia law” to London.
U.S. President Donald Trump dismissed climate change as ‘the greatest con job’ in the world during his UN address.
Reuters
“You’re destroying your countries. They’re being destroyed. Europe is in serious trouble. They’ve been invaded by a force of illegal aliens like nobody’s ever seen before,” he said. “Your countries are going to hell.”
He added that Europe is “being devastated” by the “double-tailed monster of green energy and immigration.”
Mr. Trump, who has not fulfilled a campaign promise to immediately end Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, said it was up to other countries to stop buying Russian oil and gas in order to put pressure on Moscow to negotiate a peace deal.
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“Inexcusably, even NATO countries have not cut off much Russian energy and Russian energy products,” he said. “Europe has to step it up. They can’t be doing what they’re doing. They’re buying oil and gas from Russia while they’re fighting Russia. It’s embarrassing to them.”
He also took aim at the UN for what he said was a failure to help him in negotiations to end conflicts between Armenia and Azerbaijan, Congo and Rwanda and India and Pakistan, among others.
“The United Nations wasn’t there for us,” he said. “What is the purpose of the United Nations?”
During the opening minutes of his speech, Mr. Trump said, his Teleprompter wasn’t working, and an escalator stopped functioning while his wife was on it.
“Whoever’s operating this Teleprompter is in big trouble,” he joked at the start of the speech. Later, while criticizing the UN as ineffectual, he came back to the subject: “These are the two things I got from the United Nations: a bad escalator and a bad Teleprompter.”
With a report from Reuters