KYIV, Ukraine — Ukrainians reacted cautiously on Wednesday to a surprising shift in U.S. President Donald Trump’s stance on their ability to defeat Russia’s invasion. Trump suggested they could win the three-year war and reclaim land taken by Moscow.

Meanwhile, Russian officials argued that the current battlefield situation demonstrates Ukraine’s inability to recapture occupied territories, dismissing Trump’s comment that Russia is a “paper tiger.”

“Russia isn’t a tiger, it’s more associated with a bear,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. “There are no paper bears. Russia is a real bear.”

In Ukraine, some hoped Trump’s remarks would translate into tangible support from Washington, though others remained skeptical due to the unpredictability associated with the American president.

“We need such support from America, from Donald Trump, and we hope this will continue — the same rhetoric, the same attitude toward us, toward Ukraine, and the war in Ukraine,” said Olha Voronina, a 66-year-old resident of Kyiv.

Volodymyr Cheslavskyi, a 48-year-old soldier recuperating from an injury sustained in the war, expressed his view that Trump seemed more focused on personal gain than helping Ukraine and often made conflicting statements leaving his true intentions unclear.

“He can say different things each time — he supports Ukraine, or he does not support Ukraine,” Cheslavskyi remarked to The Associated Press at St. Michael’s Square in Kyiv.

Anna Khudimova, 43, said she believed her country’s armed forces could prevail on the battlefield against Russia’s bigger army.

“But we cannot do it without the help of NATO, without the support of Europe,” she said. “If Trump influences the situation, then perhaps this can be realistic.”

Russia has occupied around 20% of Ukraine since it annexed Crimea in 2014. The all-out invasion began in February 2022.

In comments Tuesday at the United Nations and on social media, Trump took a swipe at Russian President Vladimir Putin’s leadership, made cutting remarks about Russia’s military prowess and derided the Russian economy’s performance. He also said NATO countries should shoot down Russian warplanes entering their airspace, as happened recently in Estonia.

Trump’s comments were an unanticipated departure from his previous positions on the war, when he has been publicly cool, even at times hostile, toward Ukraine and apparently more amenable to Putin.

After taking office in January, Trump reversed the three-year U.S. policy of isolating Russia when he called Putin. He has also ruled out the possibility of Ukraine joining NATO, has said Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy would need to negotiate swapping land in return for a peace deal with Moscow, and on social media called Zelenskyy “a dictator without elections.”

A senior Ukrainian lawmaker said Trump’s latest remarks were unexpected but important.

“What remains important to us is not only Trump’s words, but also whether he fulfills the earlier promises regarding decisive sanctions” on Russia, Oleksandr Merezhko, chairman of the Ukrainian Parliament’s Committee on Foreign Policy and Interparliamentary Cooperation, told the AP.

The United States and Ukraine signed earlier this year a deal granting Washington access to the country’s critical minerals and other natural resources. Another agreement is in the works, with a Ukrainian delegation due in Washington next week for talks on joint weapons production, Ukraine’s Ambassador to the U.S. Olha Stefanishyna said Wednesday.

The potential deal focuses on drone manufacturing, where Ukraine is at the cutting edge of new battle-tested technology, and was discussed “in quite some detail” between Trump and Zelenskyy on Tuesday, she said.

Zelenskyy and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov were due to address the U.N. General Assembly later Wednesday.

Trump said on social media Tuesday that, “With time, patience, and the financial support of Europe and, in particular, NATO, the original Borders from where this War started, is very much an option.”

Russia’s state television channels cast Trump’s comments as part of his efforts to shift the burden of dealing with the conflict to Europe and encourage it to buy more American weapons.

Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, challenged Trump’s comment that “Russia has been fighting aimlessly.”

Moscow has been fighting to “ensure our security and our interests and remove the root causes of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine … linked to the refusal by the previous American administrations and the Europeans to take our concerns into account,” Peskov said Wednesday.

He also countered Trump’s description of Russia’s economic woes, arguing that despite some problems the Russian economy has remained strong.

Dmitry Medvedev, a former Russian president who serves as deputy head of the Security Council chaired by Putin, scoffed at Trump’s comments as an “alternative reality.” He predicted that Trump could change his mind again soon.

Associated Press writer Hanna Arhirova contributed to this report.

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