Are we seeing a change in Trump support for Ukraine? S5E92 08.05.2026

Orin, from Boise, Idaho writes,  

President Trump met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy this week, and according to Zelenskyy, the talks were constructive. Meanwhile, Russia has continued its attacks on Ukraine, and just yesterday an errant missile, believed to be Russian, struck Poland.  

With the conflict escalating and NATO countries now finding themselves in the line of fire, the question becomes whether Trump is beginning to distance himself from Vladimir Putin and showing a new willingness to support Ukraine.  There’s also the issue of cost and capacity. Pete Hegseth is requesting billions more to sustain the Iran conflict, which increasingly resembles a long-term, open-ended engagement. 

That raises a critical strategic question: can the United States meaningfully influence the trajectory of the Russia–Ukraine war while simultaneously funding a major conflict in Iran. Or is the future of the Ukraine conflict going to fall primarily to the European Union and NATO partners.  

So, for the panel, did this meeting signal a shift in U.S. posture toward Ukraine; and second, does the United States has the bandwidth, financially, militarily, and politically, to shape outcomes in both conflicts at once.