Kremlin Rejects 'Paper Tiger' Jibe, Vows 'Real Bear' Has 'No Alternative' in Ukraine

ERBIL (Kurdistan24) – In a defiant and metaphorical riposte to a dramatic policy shift from Washington, the Kremlin on Wednesday rejected U.S. President Donald Trump's characterization of Russia as a "paper tiger," insisting that Moscow is a formidable power that has "no alternative" but to press forward with its protracted war in Ukraine.

Pushing back against Trump's newfound optimism that Kyiv could win back all of its occupied territory, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov invoked a more traditional symbol of Russian might. “Russia is hardly a tiger,” Peskov told RBC Radio in comments carried by The Moscow Times. “It’s more often associated with a bear. And there’s no such thing as a paper bear. Russia is a real bear. Putin has described our bear many times, and in different tones. There’s nothing paper about it.”

The forceful rebuttal from Moscow came less than 24 hours after President Trump, following a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, signaled what Agence France-Presse (AFP) described as a "major pivot" in his stance on the nearly four-year-long conflict.

Trump declared that Ukraine could reclaim all territory lost since the full-scale invasion began in February 2022, arguing that Russia's failure to secure a quick victory and its sputtering economy revealed a fundamental weakness.

The remarks represented a significant hardening of rhetoric from the American leader after weeks of mounting frustration with Russian President Vladimir Putin's refusal to halt the offensive.

The Kremlin, however, remained unmoved, vowing to see its military campaign through to the end. "We are continuing our special military operation to ensure our interests and achieve the goals" set by Putin, Peskov said, using Moscow's official term for its assault on Ukraine, according to an AFP report.

"We are doing this for both the present and the future of our country. For many generations to come. Therefore, we have no alternative," he added in the radio interview. Peskov suggested that Trump's assessment was skewed by a one-sided briefing from his Ukrainian counterpart.

“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,” Peskov stated, as reported by The Moscow Times. “We can’t agree with everything he said.”

The war, which Russia launched with a failed attempt to capture Kyiv and topple the government, has now killed tens of thousands, devastated vast swathes of eastern and southern Ukraine, and displaced millions, as noted by AFP.

Moscow's forces currently control approximately one-fifth of Ukraine's territory, including the Crimean peninsula which was annexed in 2014. Despite immense losses on both sides, Russian troops have been slowly grinding forward on the battlefield. It was this protracted and costly nature of the conflict that appeared to inform Trump's new critique.

In a post on his Truth Social platform cited by AFP, the U.S. president said Ukraine may "be able to take back their Country in its original form and, who knows, maybe even go further than that". The Moscow Times also noted that Trump pointed to a recent wave of successful Ukrainian drone strikes on Russian energy facilities, which have contributed to gasoline shortages and record-high prices across Russia, as evidence of Moscow's vulnerability.

While projecting an image of unyielding strength with the "real bear" analogy, Peskov did concede that the Russian economy was facing significant challenges. "Yes, Russia is experiencing tensions and problems in various sectors of the economy," he acknowledged in a comment carried by AFP.

This admission comes as Moscow's finance ministry, according to the same AFP report, proposed raising the national sales tax to help cover the spiraling costs of the offensive, which has pushed the country into a budget deficit. Peskov, however, dismissed Trump's calls for other nations to stop buying Russian oil as a self-serving business tactic.

The Kremlin spokesman told RBC Radio that the "simplest thing is to force the whole world to buy more expensive American oil and more expensive American liquefied gas," accusing the American president of trying to boost U.S. energy sales without resorting to "elaborate diplomatic maneuvers."

The sharpened rhetoric from both capitals also casts a pall over recent high-level diplomatic efforts. Despite multiple phone calls between Trump and Putin and a summit in Alaska, the rapprochement that began when Trump returned to the White House in January has yielded "close to zero" results, Peskov bluntly stated, according to AFP.

When pressed by reporters on Tuesday about whether he believed President Putin could be trusted in negotiations, Trump himself was noncommittal, deflecting with, “I’ll let you know in a month,” The Moscow Times reported.

In Kyiv, the official reaction to Trump's pivot was one of cautious optimism, while citizens on the street expressed a more world-weary skepticism. President Zelensky, as cited by AFP, hailed Trump's apparent change of position as a "big shift."

However, it remains unclear if the strong words will be followed by concrete actions, such as the additional sanctions for which Kyiv has long been lobbying. The mood on the streets of the Ukrainian capital, as captured by AFP, was more circumspect.

"It's just another opinion from Trump, which changes every hour," 33-year-old Bogdan Tkachuk told the news agency. Svitlana Fetisova, a mother whose son was killed at the front, offered a more poignant perspective, expressing a desperate hope for tangible support.

"I really want to believe that this is true and that finally the country responsible for the balance of peace in the whole world will turn to us," she told AFP, adding a plea for "more help, more action, not just words, because Ukraine is suffering."