Trump Calls Russia A Paper Tiger, Kremlin: Moscow's Economy Stable, Still Progressing In Ukraine

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov/Zee Sergey Bobylev/POOL/TASS

JAKARTA - Russia insists its economy is stable and its troops are moving forward in Ukraine, dismissed US President Donald Trump's statement urging Kyiv to take advantage of Russia's economic drawbacks and retake all territory it captured.

In a sudden and striking rhetoric change, Trump believes Ukraine can retake the entire territory captured by Russia, which currently controls about a fifth of the country's territory.

"Putin and Russia are in big economic trouble, and this is the time for Ukraine to act," Trump wrote on Truth Social.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov attributed Trump's comments to the fact he recently met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly (UN) in New York.

"Of course, President Trump heard Zelenskyy's version of the event and it seems that at this point, this version is the reason for the assessment we heard," Peskov said in an interview with RBC radio.

Peskov said the Russian army was making progress in Ukraine. Russian troops are said to have deliberately advanced with caution. Western military analysts attributed Russia's recent lack of breakthroughs to Ukraine's persistent and clever defenses, with both sides exhausted by the war for more than three and a half years.

"This, of course, is more of a question for our military, but overall" and the president has repeatedly stated this "we are moving forward very carefully to minimize losses so as not to weaken our offensive potential. This is a very deliberate act," Peskov said.

"The dynamics, I repeat, show that for those who don't want to negotiate now, the situation will be much worse tomorrow and the day after tomorrow," he said.

Peskov dismissed Trump's comments calling Russia a paper tiger', saying Russia is a bear, not a tiger. The Kremlin insists there are no paper bears

"Russia maintains its resilience. Russia maintains macroeconomic stability," Peskov said.

"Yes, Russia is experiencing tensions and certain problems in various economic sectors, which are inevitable related to various economic restrictions, sanctions, and so on that we face, with global economic turmoil. This is not just a sanction," he said.