STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
President Trump has again adjusted his stance toward Russia. As you may know, he has sometimes reached out and sometimes threatened President Vladimir Putin before backing off.
MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
At the United Nations yesterday, Trump seemed to revert to the old approach taken by President Biden and supported by many Republicans - get weapons to Ukraine and let them fight it out with Russia. He called Russia, quote, "a paper tiger" and says Ukraine, with European help, can win back all of its territory.
INSKEEP: Trump also said NATO members should shoot down Russian aircraft if they enter NATO airspace. Coming up, we'll hear from the foreign minister of Estonia, where Russian planes did fly last week. We start with NPR's Michele Kelemen and Trump's approach to Russia.
MICHELE KELEMEN, BYLINE: When President Trump took the podium at the U.N. General Assembly, he touted his negotiating skills, suggesting he should get the Nobel Prize for resolving seven conflicts, though not yet Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza or Russia's war against Ukraine.
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PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Of the seven wars that I stopped, I thought that would be the easiest because of my relationship with President Putin, which had always been a good one.
KELEMEN: He said Russia, too, thought this war would be easy.
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TRUMP: Everyone thought Russia would win this war in three days, but it didn't work out that way. It was supposed to be just a quick little skirmish. It's not making Russia look good. It's making them look bad.
KELEMEN: Later, after meeting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Trump wrote that he believes Putin and Russia are in big economic trouble. And with patience and support from Europe, he suggested Ukraine can win back the country in its, quote, "original form. And who knows, maybe even go further than that," Trump wrote with an exclamation point. Zelenskyy told the U.N. Security Council that he had a good meeting with Trump, and he said it is Russia that is holding up peace talks.
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PRESIDENT VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY: One of the prominent members of this council is doing everything to prolong the largest war in Europe since World War II. Russia does this with impunity using its veto power, buying influence and keeping peace on hold.
KELEMEN: He told China, another veto-holder on the Security Council, that it has influence and could compel Moscow to end the invasion.
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ZELENSKYY: Without China, Putin's Russia is nothing. Yet too often, China stays silent and distant instead of active for peace.
KELEMEN: As for the U.S., he says Russia fears Washington and will pay attention to what Trump does. Russian President Vladimir Putin rarely comes to the U.N. General Assembly and didn't this year. He sent his foreign minister Sergey Lavrov, who is expected to meet with Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Rubio told the Security Council that Trump has put a lot of time and effort into resolving this conflict.
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MARCO RUBIO: The president is a very patient man. He's very committed to peace, but his patient is not infinite.
MARTIN: Rubio held out the possibility of tougher sanctions on Russia and more weapon sales to Ukraine, but he didn't spell out exactly when the U.S. might act. Like Trump, he said the war has been damaging for Russia.
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RUBIO: Some of the numbers we are seeing and the loss of life among military personnel, for example, on the Russian Federation side, are staggering. Staggering. In one month alone, more loss of life than in the entirety of the U.S. engagement in Afghanistan or Iraq.
KELEMEN: Rubio says the U.S. made what he calls generous offers to have a ceasefire at the current lines. But in the weeks since Trump held a summit with Putin in Alaska, the Russians have ramped up their attacks on Ukraine and sent drones and fighter jets over NATO airspace.
Michele Kelemen, NPR News, the United Nations. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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