As the war in Ukraine grinds into its fourth year, the rhetoric and strategies from Moscow, Washington, and European capitals are shifting in ways that have both heightened tensions and deepened skepticism about the prospects for peace. In the span of just a few days, the world has witnessed a remarkable pivot in U.S. messaging, a hardening of Russian resolve, and a new European push to fund Ukraine’s war effort using Russia’s own frozen assets.
On September 24, 2025, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov made it clear that Russia sees no alternative but to continue what it calls its “special military operation” in Ukraine. Speaking in a radio interview, Peskov stated, “We are continuing our special military operation to ensure our interests and achieve the goals set by President Putin. We are doing this for both the present and the future of our country. For many generations to come. Therefore, we have no alternative.” According to reporting from AFP and other outlets, this statement follows a dramatic shift in tone from U.S. President Donald Trump, who, after meeting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy the day before, declared that Ukraine could reclaim every inch of its territory and dismissed Russia as a “paper tiger” with a failing economy.
Trump’s comments, delivered both in person and on his Truth Social platform, represented a significant break from his previous stance. “Ukraine may be able to take back their Country in its original form and, who knows, maybe even go further than that,” Trump posted. For many in Kyiv, the words were welcome but not entirely convincing. “It’s just another opinion from Trump, which changes every hour,” said 33-year-old Bogdan Tkachuk to AFP. Svitlana Fetisova, whose son was killed on the front, voiced a sentiment shared by many Ukrainians: “I really want to believe that this is true and that finally the country responsible for the balance of peace in the whole world will turn to us. But I want to see more help, more action, not just words, because Ukraine is suffering.”
The Kremlin, meanwhile, reacted with a mixture of disdain and defiance. Peskov rejected Trump’s “paper tiger” characterization, quipping, “Russia is more associated with a bear. And paper bears don’t exist. Russia is a real bear.” He did, however, acknowledge that the Russian economy faces challenges: “Yes, Russia is experiencing tensions and problems in various sectors of the economy.” In response to mounting costs from the war and persistent inflation, Russia’s Finance Ministry proposed raising the sales tax next year to help cover the budget deficit, as reported by Reuters.
Despite these economic pressures, Peskov insisted that Russia’s military strategy in Ukraine is deliberate and careful, aimed at minimizing losses and preserving offensive potential. “We are going forward very carefully to minimise losses and so as not to destroy our offensive potential,” he said, pushing back against Trump’s assertion that Moscow was fighting “aimlessly.” Peskov also took issue with the idea that Ukraine could simply reclaim lost territory, arguing, “The fact that Ukraine is being encouraged in every possible way to continue hostilities and the argument that Ukraine can win something back is, in our view, a mistaken argument... The dynamics on the front lines speak for themselves.”
On the battlefield, Russia currently controls around one-fifth of Ukraine’s territory, including Crimea, which it annexed in 2014. The conflict has killed tens of thousands of people and forced millions to flee their homes. Both armies have suffered immense losses, and the war has devastated much of eastern and southern Ukraine. Despite slow but steady Russian advances, there has not been a major breakthrough in recent months, according to multiple reports.
Trump’s rhetorical shift has not gone unnoticed among Russian nationalists and political insiders. According to The Hindu, many interpreted his new stance as an indication that the U.S. was “washing its hands” of the conflict and leaving Ukraine and the European Union to shoulder the burden. Konstantin Malofeyev, an ultra-nationalist tycoon, remarked, “The main point... is that the U.S. 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 U.S.” Russian senator Dmitry Rogozin was even more scathing, writing, “His rhetoric is so undignified that it is difficult to imagine someone like him still in office as president of a great power.”
State media figures also joined the chorus of mockery. Margarita Simonyan, a top Russian media executive, likened Trump’s promises to those of a tarot card reader selling false hope. “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,” she wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
Yet, while the war of words raged, more ominous rhetoric emerged from Moscow’s hardliners. Sergei Karaganov, a prominent Putin ally and honorary chairman of the Russian Council for Foreign and Defence Policy, publicly urged the use of tactical nuclear weapons to prevent a broader conflict between the U.S. and Russia. “The use of nuclear weapons, in extreme cases, in the most dreadful case, is a terrible sin,” Karaganov said, as reported by the Express. “But not using them and condemning your people and the world to a major war is an even greater sin. That is an even more terrible sin.” He went further, arguing that “a nuclear war can be won, God forbid it happens,” and called for “breaking the back of Europe” to force a change among European elites.
On Russian state television, propagandist Vladimir Solovyov took the rhetoric to new heights, laughing as he demanded the bombing of Oxford and Cambridge universities to “obliterate the British elite.” Solovyov derided the UK government and Royal Family as “idiots” and suggested that true power in Britain lies with a shadowy establishment. Such statements, while extreme, reflect a growing chorus among Kremlin loyalists calling for nuclear escalation and confrontation with NATO.
Amid these threats, Europe is moving to bolster Ukraine’s position. On September 25, 2025, a top German official told POLITICO that Berlin supports the European Commission’s plan to use up to €172 billion of frozen Russian state assets, currently held in Belgium, to aid Ukraine’s war effort. The plan would send the frozen cash to Ukraine and replace it with EU-backed bonds—a move designed both to help Kyiv and further squeeze the Kremlin’s finances.
Diplomatic efforts continue, albeit with little visible progress. Peskov noted that Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was scheduled to hold talks with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on September 24, 2025, to set out Russia’s stance. Yet, as Peskov admitted, the thaw in U.S.-Russia relations since Trump’s return to the White House has yielded “close to zero” results.
For now, the war shows no sign of abating. On the streets of Kyiv, there is little faith that words alone—whether from Washington, Moscow, or Brussels—will change the harsh reality facing Ukrainians. As Svitlana Fetisova put it, what matters most is not rhetoric, but real action.