President Donald Trump, who, as we reported, made a blistering speech in front of the United Nations earlier Tuesday, just wrapped up a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as that country remains in devastating war against its aggressor, Russia.
The big news that came immediately out of the confab was that Trump said NATO nations should feel free to remove from the sky any Russian aircraft that invaded their territory.
Do it, he said:
President Trump said he supports NATO countries shooting down Russian aircraft if they enter their airspace."Yes, I do," he said in response to a reporter's question on the sidelines of the UN.
Trump was meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky when he engaged with the press on questions about recent Russian incursions into European airspace.
On whether the US would back up NATO allies, he said it would "depend" on the circumstances.
REPORTER: "Do you think that NATO countries should shoot down Russian aircraft if they enter their airspace?"
— Fox News (@FoxNews) September 23, 2025
TRUMP: "Yes, I do." pic.twitter.com/QR2iQ6w7fW
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Trump also was coy about whether he still trusted Russian strongman Vladimir Putin, who has been slithery as a viper in negotiations to end the years-long war. “I'll let you know in about a month from now," Trump replied when asked by reporters.
The meeting was much more friendly than the disastrous one in February, where both Trump and Vice President JD Vance chewed out Zelensky for his lack of appreciation for all the United States has done for his country.
This time, the president said he appreciated the bravery of Zelensky and the Ukrainian fighters:
President Trump applauded Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky for his ongoing defense against Russia, calling him a "brave man" before their private meeting at the UN.
"He's a brave man, and he's putting up one hell of a fight. And we'll see how that all turns out," Trump told reporters.
"But we're going to have a meeting, and we have about 30 meetings scheduled today. We have a lot of meetings scheduled today, going pretty late into the night, but this is an important one, and we have great respect for the fight that Ukraine is putting up. It's pretty amazing, actually.”
Zelensky thanked Trump—and the First Lady—and was noticeably deferential to the president:
Zelensky responded by thanking Trump for his meeting and his efforts to stop the war.
"Just now we'll have meeting about Ukrainian children. Thank you for Melania’s personal involvement in this topic. This is very important. I will brief Mr. President and his team what's going on on the battlefield. We have good good news. Of course, we want to solve the war.”
Watch:
President Trump meets with Ukrainian President Zelensky.
— CSPAN (@cspan) September 23, 2025
"We have great respect for the fight that Ukraine is putting up. It's pretty amazing actually." pic.twitter.com/Th62pTYuck
Keep it here at RedState; we'll keep you updated on all the news out of New York and the United Nations as developments warrant.
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