President Donald Trump (R) speaks during a bilateral meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly on September 23, 2025 in New York City. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

President Donald Trump’s abrupt shift on the war in Ukraine this week came amid fresh frustration at Russian President Vladimir Putin, and was intended to apply more pressure on Moscow to come to the negotiating table, according to US officials.

By publicly declaring Ukraine could regain all its territory — a position few NATO leaders share, at least without a dramatic shift in the battlefield dynamics — Trump hopes to jumpstart the process of getting the two sides to a peace deal, the officials said.

Whether Trump’s new stance actually results in a new round of talk

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