Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Wednesday expressed surprise over US President Donald Trump’s U-turn on Russia war, while noting that he believed their relationship was now “better than before.”He further claimed that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s repeatedly “lying” to Trump brought US and Ukraine closer. “I think we have better relations than before. It’s good that we have often [had] phone calls and meetings, and the fact that [Russian President Vladimir] Putin was lying to President Trump so many times also made a difference between us,” he told Fox News.

Zelenskyy added that the intelligence coordination between Kyiv and Washington had improved, calling it crucial for making battlefield decisions.The remarks came after Trump said that Ukraine could recover all territory lost to Russia with Nato and EU financial support. The change in stance came just a month after Trump had supported a plan for Ukraine to cede land in exchange for peace.“After getting to know and fully understand the Ukraine/Russia Military and Economic situation and, after seeing the Economic trouble it is causing Russia, I think Ukraine, with the support of the European Union, is in a position to fight and WIN all of Ukraine back in its original form. With time, patience, and the financial support of Europe and, in particular, NATO, the original Borders from where this War started, is very much an option. Why not? Russia has been fighting aimlessly for three and a half years a War that should have taken a Real Military Power less than a week to win. This is not distinguishing Russia. In fact, it is very much making them look like ‘a paper tiger’,” Trump had said in a Truth Social post.He even suggested that Ukraine would be able to “take back their country in its original form and, who knows, maybe even go further than that!”“We will continue to supply weapons to NATO for NATO to do what they want with them. Good luck to all!” he said.While Trump has been attempting to broker a peace deal between the two nations, he has repeatedly expressed disappointment over Putin’s approach towards it.Russia has seized between 170 and 215 square miles of territory each month since May, according to DeepState, a group tracking battlefield shifts.