President Donald Trump on Thursday appeared to encourage Ukraine to take offensive action against Russia, even as peace negotiations remain at a standstill.
“It is very hard, if not impossible, to win a war without attacking an invader’s country. It’s like a great team in sports that has a fantastic defense, but is not allowed to play offense. There is no chance of winning!” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post. He added that Ukraine had been restricted under “Crooked and grossly incompetent Joe Biden,” but insisted the war “would have NEVER happened if I were President – ZERO CHANCE.”
Moscow’s Red Line
Trump’s words risk striking a nerve in Moscow, which has repeatedly warned that any Western support for Ukrainian attacks inside Russia is a red line. During the Biden administration, U.S. policy prohibited Ukraine from using American-made long-range missiles on Russian territory. That stance shifted in November 2024 after allied pressure, prompting Russia to revise its nuclear doctrine to treat such strikes as a joint attack by Ukraine and its nuclear-armed backers.
Days later, Russia fired its new Oreshnik medium-range intercontinental ballistic missile at the Ukrainian city of Dnipro. Moscow also continues to use Ukraine’s drone strikes on Russian energy and military targets as evidence to brand Kyiv a “terrorist regime.”
The remarks represent a reversal for Trump, who had criticized Biden for approving long-range strikes inside Russia. In a December 2024 interview, Trump had said: “We’re just escalating this war and making it worse. That should not have been allowed to be done.”
Current Tensions
Trump’s latest comments come as the Kremlin disputes White House statements about potential bilateral talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Russia says no such leader-level meeting has been agreed.
Meanwhile, Russia launched a broad series of overnight airstrikes across Ukraine, including one that struck an American-owned manufacturing facility and left at least 15 people injured.
Soon after posting his remarks, Trump also shared a photo of himself with Putin, layered over a 1959 image of then-Vice President Richard Nixon’s tense exchange with Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev — evoking Cold War imagery of U.S. defiance.
What The Author Thinks
Trump’s latest remarks underscore how quickly his tone can shift on Ukraine, from warning about escalation to now framing offense as essential. While his sports analogy may resonate with supporters, such rhetoric risks signaling to Moscow that the U.S. could support deeper Ukrainian strikes on Russian soil. That kind of ambiguity can be dangerous in a conflict where misinterpretation can spiral into direct confrontation between nuclear powers.
Featured image credit: Ministry of Defense of Ukraine via Flickr
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