Kremlin rejects Donald Trump’s claims on war in Ukraine

The Kremlin rejects the central arguments for US President Donald Trump’s rhetorical U-turn on the war in Ukraine, as nationalists and political insiders reacted with a mixture of defiance and mockery.

Trump on Tuesday said he believed Ukraine could retake all its land controlled by Russia and that Kyiv should act now with Moscow facing “big” economic problems, in a sudden and striking rhetorical shift in Ukraine’s favour.

The Kremlin countered that the Russian economy was stable, despite problems in some sectors caused by sanctions, and that Russian forces’ slow advance in Ukraine was part of a deliberate strategy rather than a sign of weakness.

“Russia is not a tiger but is more associated with a bear,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said in an interview with the RBC radio station on Wednesday after Trump called Russia a “paper tiger”.

“Paper bears don’t exist.”

Though angered by what they saw as Trump’s insulting rhetoric, Russian nationalists and political insiders interpreted his flip-flop as a sign that he was washing his hands of the war in Ukraine after his unsuccessful and unrealistic attempts to broker a quick peace deal.

They noted he had not promised any more US help to Kyiv, but rather placed the onus squarely on Ukraine itself and the European Union.

“Yes, Trump suddenly told the world about his love for Ukraine. He hoped it would ‘regain the territories it had in 1991 and, who knows, maybe even go further,” said Konstantin Malofeyev, an ultra-nationalist tycoon and political influencer.

“But the main point ... is that the US is washing its hands of the matter. The European Union will pay for everything. To put it even more simply: Trump has sent Ukraine to fight against Russia alongside Europe while buying weapons from the US.”

Peskov, the Kremlin spokesperson, acknowledged the shift in Trump’s rhetoric in favour of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, whom Trump met on Tuesday.

But he said Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov would hold talks with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio later on Wednesday and set out Russia’s stance.

Peskov said there were no problems with macro-economic stability and rejected Trump’s criticism of the Russian military after the US president said Moscow had been fighting “aimlessly” in Ukraine.

Russia’s incremental advances in Ukraine were the result of what he called a well thought-out strategy.

“We are going forward very carefully to minimise losses and so as not to destroy our offensive potential,” Peskov said.

Dmitry Rogozin, a senator who has fought in Ukraine, said Trump was trying to stir up trouble.

“His rhetoric is so undignified that it is difficult to imagine someone like him still in office as president of a great power,” Rogozin wrote on Telegram.

Margarita Simonyan, one of Russia’s top state media executives, likened Trump to a tarot card reader promising his client - Ukraine - the impossible when he spoke of Kyiv being able to retake territory.

“Trump debuts as the tarot card reader telling the thrice-divorced lady that she is going to meet that billionaire prince after all, as long as she buys the magic crystals,” Simonyan wrote.