US President Donald Trump has again positioned himself alongside Russian President Vladimir Putin, stating that Ukraine must show the willingness to end the war, according to NU. The Dutch outlet reported the remark on Tuesday, 20 October 2026.
The comment places Trump's public stance close to Moscow's framing of the conflict, as reported by NU. Dutch daily De Standaard responded with the question of whether Trump has now definitively shifted toward Putin.
The reporting from NU and De Standaard does not detail where the remark was made, what prompted it, or how Kyiv responded. No reaction from Ukrainian officials was included in the material available.
What the coverage does make clear is the recurring pattern: Trump publicly taking a position that aligns him with the Russian leader on how the war should conclude. NU's headline frames it as Trump standing beside Putin once more.
De Standaard's framing goes further, asking whether the alignment is now permanent rather than tactical. That question remains open in the reporting.
For observers of the war's diplomacy, the focus now turns to whether Kyiv or European capitals respond to Trump's remark, and whether it signals any shift in US pressure on Ukraine to enter talks.
