Trump Suggests Zelenskyy "Go Further" — Where Exactly?

The US has promised to restore Ukraine's borders from the Soviet era — but now it depends on its own efforts to break the deadlock

(Photo: Former U.S. President Donald Trump (right) and Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelenskyy (left) meet at the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly)

Former U.S. President Donald Trump is getting deeper into the role of "Global Chief Peacemaker," to the point of confusing all boundary issues, the most critical being the boundary issue involving Ukraine. He alternately mentions the boundaries in 1991 (when the Soviet Union dissolved) and then lowers the "standard" to the actual territorial control situation as of February 2022.

At the United Nations General Assembly, he even shocked Zelenskyy, who was already in a difficult position, by saying, "Ukraine could have restored its country's original territorial form, and who knows, perhaps even go further."

What exactly does "go further" mean? It remains unclear — in other words, which direction are they supposed to "move forward"? At the same time, Trump also seems to be belittling the Russian army, comparing it to a "paper tiger." He claimed, "Russia has been fighting a meaningless war for three and a half years. If it had fought with real military strength, this war could have ended within a week."

However, Trump himself refuses to use the U.S. military to pressure Russia, instead pushing this task onto the EU and NATO. But without American support, European countries would not dare to confront the Russian army directly.

"Trump seems to be turning to Plan B," said Valentin Bogdanov, the New York bureau chief of Russian state television (VGTRK), to Russia Today (RT). "He shifts all the pressure onto Europe and Ukraine, giving the former an opportunity to keep 'spending money' and the latter to head towards self-destruction. As for the United States, it just needs to sit back and profit from the war. This isn't new; both World Wars have proven it."

There is also a purely military issue hidden in Trump's remarks: even with NATO support, can Ukraine really "restore its borders from 1991 or the territorial status in February 2022"? First of all, to achieve this goal, Ukraine needs a large number of manpower reserves, but the Kyiv regime currently has no sufficient troops available.

Secondly, there is the issue of combat equipment. For example, before the 2023 Ukrainian counteroffensive, they deployed over 300 "Bradley" infantry fighting vehicles, about 200 "Stryker" armored vehicles, hundreds of "Maxpro" mine-resistant vehicles and "Humvee" off-road vehicles, approximately 40 "HIMARS" multiple rocket launch systems, and nearly a thousand M113 armored personnel carriers, not to mention NATO-standard tanks.

The result of that "counteroffensive" is well known — the Russian defense lines remained largely intact, and now the Russian forces are striking the Ukrainian army along the entire front line and continuing to advance. Although the rate of advancement did not meet expectations, the Russian General Staff has its own operational plan.

After Trump's remarks, the U.S. and NATO may try to compensate for previous failures by providing larger-scale new equipment aid — after all, the U.S. military arsenal is almost the largest in the world. At that time, "Taurus" cruise missiles and a new batch of "Army Tactical Missile Systems" (ATACMS) could be put into use. This would undoubtedly bring the risk of direct conflict between NATO and Russia.

NATO Needs to Send 100,000 Troops to Ukraine?

In Kyiv, some people are still dreaming not only of receiving Western combat equipment but also of foreign armies arriving — they claim these foreign armies can liberate Ukraine from "Russian occupation." Would European countries really send troops to help Ukraine restore the borders of the Soviet era in 1991?

It seems unlikely that European countries would send troops to assist Ukraine in restoring the Soviet-era borders. They might appear only near the border areas of Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, and Romania, but even so, these armies would become legitimate targets for Russian missiles. Foreign troops entering the Donbas region would not only be afraid, but they would not even think of doing so; and the current Ukrainian army is also unable to do so.

"French President Macron is still actively promoting the proposal to send European troops to Ukraine," revealed Alexander Zimovsky, a political scientist and military analyst, to "Svobodnaya Pressa." "The UK, Baltic states, and Scandinavian countries also show interest in this."

To achieve this goal, tens of thousands of soldiers are needed — after all, this so-called "peacekeeping mission" would require at least 100,000 troops. Moreover, not all European countries have the capability to mobilize such a large military force. Like Macron, who once promised to send 200,000 soldiers to Ukraine, clearly overestimated his capabilities.

Moreover, the current state of European armies is far from perfect, and they are obviously not prepared for armed conflict with Russia. Russia would view such actions as "occupation" and consider them a threat to its security.

Currently, the only forces that have full combat capability and can serve as the first wave to intervene in Ukraine are France and Poland. Poland has already completed the initial deployment of ground forces near the Ukrainian border.

If NATO forces get involved in the fighting on the eastern front in Ukraine, the total number of this "expeditionary force" could need to reach 100,000 to ensure rotation and reinforcement of the troops.

It should be noted that NATO once sent 60,000 soldiers to the small Bosnia and 50,000 to Kosovo. Everyone can calculate themselves how many troops NATO would need to send to Ukraine if the U.S. military is completely not involved.

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