Trump may quickly change his rhetoric — German political scientist

This opinion was expressed in a comment to Ukrinform by German political scientist, professor at King's College (London), and security expert Peter Neumann.

"We all hope that it is a shift, but we've been in such a situation enough times before. And we know that he shifts, and then he shifts back, and it can change very quickly. After speaking to someone else, his position becomes different one. So I don't think there will be a big shift. But based on previous experience, I think his position is not stable," Peter Neumann stated.

He noted that the American leader's rhetoric changed after Trump met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, but after talking to someone else, the American leader's position may become completely different.

Trump has made it clear that he will not take any decisive action until all European countries stop buying oil from Russia. But Hungary and Slovakia, which still buy these energy resources, have already stated that they do not intend to give them up, so there are no signs that they are going to stop.

"And so this is a great excuse for him. Maybe it was meant as an excuse from the very beginning, but it's a great excuse for him to say, 'Well, you know, the Europeans are not doing this, so I'm not going to do anything either,'" the German political scientist noted.

So now it is up to European politicians to encourage Trump to go further. But the U.S. President “often basically does what helps Putin more than what helps Ukraine.”

At the same time, the political scientist expressed hope that this time, Trump's change of heart will last longer than usual and that he will take a more pro-Ukrainian stance.

As reported, after meeting with Volodymyr Zelensky in New York earlier this week, Trump said that given the situation in Russia, Ukraine is capable of regaining all the territories seized by the aggressor country, and later compared Russia to a “paper tiger” on social media.