European officials fear that US President Donald Trump’s dramatic U-turn on Ukraine is a back door plan to shift responsibility for the West’s failure to prevent Ukraine’s defeat in its war with Russia or help it recover afterwards, the Financial Times reported on September 24.

The FT noted that for months Trump had argued Ukraine would have to cede territory to end the conflict and has largely backed Russia’s position until this week, where he did a dramatic about-face following a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on September 23 in New York. In a post on social media, Trump said Russia was a “paper tiger” and could retake all its occupied territory – if the EU stepped up and paid for sufficient supplies of weapons.

One European official told the FT that Trump’s apparent endorsement of Ukraine’s full territorial restoration was “helping him prepare a back door” to deflect blame if Kyiv falters militarily or loses access to funding. According to the paper, Trump is increasingly seen among European leaders as an unreliable ally, though “in a number of cabinets” his latest comments were welcomed.

Despite Trump’s comments, he left out key details on when, what and how much military aid could be sent to Ukraine. He also did not mention adding new sanctions on Russia that could increase pressure on the budget. Trump is prone to make big gestures, but they are usually sweeping generalisations and couched in vague terms, making it hard to hold him to account for his rhetoric.

On September 24, Reuters reported that Trump’s rhetoric was designed to place primary responsibility for the conflict’s outcome on Europe. Trump made this clear following the coalition of the willing Paris summit on September 4 when the collected EU leaders called him after meeting to win US backing for their plans that included sending peacekeepers to a postwar Ukraine. The call ended in disaster after Trump instead told Europe to stop importing Russian oil and gas.

Following Trump’s comments this week, Secretary of State Marco Rubio made it clear that US support would not be forthcoming unless the EU followed through with bans on Russian hydrocarbons and also imposed sanctions and tariffs on India and China, at Trump’s behest, Russia’s two biggest hydrocarbon customers.

"I am ready to impose serious sanctions on Russia when all Nato countries start doing the same, and when all Nato countries stop buying oil from Russia," Trump said on September 13.

"It's unacceptable, but even Nato countries haven't stopped buying Russian energy resources. I really don't like it. In essence, they are financing a war against themselves," the US president said ten days later.

The EU passed its nineteenth sanctions package this month which brings forward a total ban on Russian gas imports to the start of next year, but it was silent on banning oil imports, most of which go to Hungary and Slovakia. The EU has also rejected imposing any tariffs on China, one of the Union’s biggest trade partners.

Trump’s remarks represent a significant departure from his earlier scepticism about Ukraine’s chances, when he described Zelenskiy as holding a “bad hand” and predicted that territorial concessions were inevitable. But his pivot has left European capitals questioning whether Washington intends to reduce its role in shaping the war’s trajectory, according to the FT.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy is thought to have followed a similar strategy when he presented his “victory plan” a year ago, that lead with accelerate entry to Nato – a demand he knew would be rejected by all his Western allies. Journalist and bne IntelliNews columnist Leonid Ragozin argued at the time that it was a ploy to prepare the ground for the eventual fading away of Western support and a Ukrainian defeat, as it would allow the president to blame the lack of support by Ukraine’s Western allies for the failure.

Undermining Trump’s own comments that Ukraine can “win” the war, Trump has also denied permission for Ukrainian forces to launch strikes with American weapons deep into Russian territory, The Wall Street Journal ( WSJ ) reported on September 25, citing White House sources.