President Trump’s abrupt shift on how the Russian invasion of Ukraine could end is exposing his newly increased frustrations with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Trump’s sudden determination on Tuesday that Ukraine could win back all of its land — and perhaps more — came after meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on the sidelines of the United Nations, leaving Zelensky please and surprised.

Some GOP foreign policy hawks signaled that they are all in on the president’s latest posture and argued that it could change the course of the war.

But they also cautioned the White House would need to back up Trump’s tough talk with action.

“I welcome President Trump’s acknowledgement that Ukraine can defeat Russia’s brutal aggression,” Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), one of the foremost GOP Ukraine hawks in Congress, said in a statement Wednesday. “For years, President Biden’s dithering and hesitant efforts to help Ukraine defend itself only prolonged this conflict. This year, senior members of President Trump’s Administration have consistently recommended he take the same disastrous approach to this awful war.”

“Meanwhile, reality has been unmistakable: passivity in the face of aggression will not stop Putin. Self-imposed constraints will only delay the peace the president rightly seeks,” he continued, calling on all in the administration to back Ukraine or risk “undermining President Trump’s efforts to end the war.”

“The world is watching to see if President Trump’s administration translates his rhetoric into action,” McConnell added.

Trump’s Tuesday social media post marked the latest shift in his approach to Putin after coming into office touting his relationship with the Russian leader and vowing to use it to quickly end the war. The following months were marked both by an explosive Oval Office meeting with Zelensky and evidence of........

© The Hill