Russia Mocks Trump’s ‘Paper Tiger’ Remark, Says Ukraine Cannot Take Back Territory 

Russia has mocked President Trump for being too much under the influence of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s perspective on the ongoing war, after on Tuesday the American leader stated he thinks Ukraine is in “a position to fight and WIN all of Ukraine back in its original form.” Trump had also called Russia a “paper tiger”.

The Kremlin on Wednesday made clear its military would press on with the “special military operation” because it sees “no alternative” – and after Trump-backed peace efforts have gone nowhere.

“Mr. Trump heard about what’s happening from Zelensky’s perspective. And, apparently, at this point, that version is what led to the assessment we heard,” Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in an interview with RBC Radio. 

Russia will press on in its “special military operation to ensure our national interests… We are doing this for the present and the future of the country. For many generations to come.” There is “no alternative” based on the precarious situation Russia found itself in, he expressed, and likely had constant NATO expansion on his mind.

He then stressed that Moscow is calling for the world’s attention to understand “root causes” of the war in Ukraine. “Putin repeatedly tried and offered to resolve those root causes,” Peskov said.

He followed up in a separate press briefing by saying it is a “mistake” to think Ukraine can take back territory currently under the control of Russian troops.

Trump’s rosy assessment of the state of the battlefield, voiced firmly from Kiev’s perspective, ignores what even mainstream media has been openly admitting for much of the past year – that Ukrainian forces are crumbling amid manpower shortages, ammo and weapons supply problems, and bad strategy and leadership from commanders.

For example, just last month a WSJ report described, “Ukrainian officers and infantrymen complain of a centralized command culture that often punishes initiative and wastes men’s lives. Generals order repetitive frontal assaults that have little hope of success, and deny requests from beleaguered units to carry out tactical retreats and save their men. Casualties accumulate on operations with little strategic value.”

The report featured the perspective of deeply alarmed Ukrainian commanders who have increasingly gone public to voice their frustrations after witnessing needless tragic losses:

Privately, many Ukrainian soldiers repeat a bitter refrain: “Big Soviet army beats little Soviet army.” 

Capt. Oleksandr Shyrshyn, a battalion commander in Ukraine’s 47^th Mechanized Brigade, took his frustrations public. In May he denounced the army’s top brass on Facebook. Railing against “stupid” orders and losses, he spoke of pervasive fear in the army of generals who are “only capable of reprimands, investigations, imposing penalties.” Addressing the General Staff of Ukraine’s armed forces, he said: “I hope your children will also be in the infantry and will carry out your tasks.”

He told the Journal he was driven to speak out after his battalion was repeatedly ordered by senior commanders to launch assaults that were unrealistic for the unit’s limited means. 

And all the while Russian troops have penetrated and expanded the war into the central Dnipropetrovsk region, which neighbors Donetsk. This signifies that Moscow is taking the fight beyond the Donbass – at least slowly – at a moment it also has all the leverage at the negotiating table.

Trump went full Zelensky. Zelensky laughs about Trump’s statement that Ukraine would win war with Russia, take back all its territory & might take Russian territory. He says that Ukraine is not loosing war. pic.twitter.com/CCE5Vqpfg6

He calls Ukrainians, who would bear brunt of…

— Ivan Katchanovski (@I_Katchanovski) September 24, 2025

As for the “paper tiger” remarks by Trump, Peskov dismissed this as well:

The Kremlin fired back at President Trump’s dig that Russia looks like a “paper tiger” by bizarrely insisting it is actually a “bear” that’s still a formidable military power despite its failure to conquer Ukraine.

“Russia is by no means a tiger. Russia is traditionally seen as a bear. There is no such thing as paper bears. Russia is a real bear,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told RBC Radio in an awkward response. “There is nothing paper about it.”

The reality remains that Russia is not setting out to “conquer Ukraine” and Putin has never shown an intent or willingness to occupy Kiev – but to hold and maintain sovereignty over the ‘annexed’ Donbass region.

Despite Trump’s bravado and overly optimistic assessment of Ukraine’s changes, he’s still yet to unleash major new sanctions on Russia, which would include secondary sanctions aimed at energy trading partners like China and India.