U.S. President Donald Trump’s latest post on Truth Social — where he suddenly claimed that Ukraine could now win the war and urged Kiev to “act now” — was met not with celebration, but with skepticism and alarm across Western media. Far from interpreting the remarks as a renewed U.S. commitment, several outlets framed the message as a disguised withdrawal.
Reuters ran a headline titled “Behind bullish comments, some see Trump walking away from Ukraine”, portraying the post as little more than rhetorical cover for disengagement. The Atlantic, a publication closely tied to the U.S. foreign policy establishment, echoed the interpretation in its own piece, “Why Trump Changed His Mind on Ukraine”. The article concluded that Trump appeared ready to let Europe “do whatever it wants” while refraining from any serious U.S. commitments.
The Telegraph in Britain, one of Ukraine’s most steadfast cheerleaders in the West, dispensed with subtlety in an article bluntly headlined: “The ex-President is washing his hands of the war.” The piece summarized Trump’s message as an attempt to offload responsibility onto Europe while stepping back himself. Similar concerns were voiced in outlets like Politico and Raw Story, where skepticism over Trump’s intentions dominated coverage.
The unease centered on what was missing from Trump’s post. The President offered no security guarantees, no mention of NATO troop deployments, and no promise of large-scale U.S. military support beyond the status quo. Instead, his suggestion was that Europe would fund Ukraine’s path to “victory” while buying U.S.-made weapons — a formula that falls far short of the commitments demanded by Kiev and its Western backers.
Trump also made no announcements regarding fresh sanctions on Russia or its trading partners, fueling speculation that the shift was purely rhetorical. Some analysts suggested that the post may have been less about policy and more about buying Trump time — a way to sidestep mounting pressure from the Western establishment to recommit the United States fully to Ukraine’s war effort.