KIEV, Aug. 3 – Donald Trump changed views on Ukraine after hiring an ex-employee of former President Viktor Yanukovych as campaign manager among other figures and is now striking a far milder tone against Russian aggression, Politico reported on Wednesday.

Paul Manafort worked as political consultant for Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych for more than a decade up until his client had ordered a brutal crackdown on peaceful Ukrainian protesters in February 2014, leaving one hundred people dead.

Yanukovych fled to Russia, while Russian special forces moved quickly to seize Crimea in March 2014, later spreading the conflict to eastern parts of Ukraine.

Trump, now the Republican nominee, sounded like a supporter of Ukraine's territorial integrity last September, when he spoke by video feed to a gathering of political and business elites in Kiev.

“Our president is not strong and he is not doing what he should be doing for the Ukraine,” Trump told he group of pro-Western businessmen, diplomats and politicians. “I don’t think you’re getting the support you need."

That view was in line with other statements Trump had made calling for a firmer Western response to Russian President Vladimir Putin's annexation of Crimea and support for a pro-Russian separatist movement in the country’s east, according to a review of Trump's public comments about Ukraine since 2014.

In recent days, however, Trump has struck a different tone. He now says he might recognize Crimea as Russian territory and lift punitive U.S. sanctions against Russia. The alternative, he warned on Monday, could be World War III.

The changes follow his recent association with several people sympathetic to Russian influence in Ukraine. They include his campaign manager Manafort and his foreign policy adviser Carter Page among others.

In the days after Putin annexed Crimea in mid-March 2014, for instance, Trump expressed strong opposition to the move. Appearing on NBC’s “Today” show on March 13, he said that the land grab — which Obama and top European leaders denounced as a gross violation of international law — “should never have happened.”

But in recent weeks, Trump has sounded far more forgiving of Putin's aggression, which has worsened with the entrenchment of pro-Russian separatist fighters in the country's east, where nearly 10,000 people have been killed in the fighting. Trump now says that he is “going to take a look” at recognizing Crimea as Russian territory, and that he would consider lifting those same sanctions.

And during an appearance on ABC's "This Week" this past Sunday, Trump seemed untroubled by Russia's grip on the territory.

“The people of Crimea, from what I’ve heard, would rather be with Russia than where they were,” Trump said, echoing a frequent Kremlin talking point.

At a Monday rally in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Trump called it futile to continue pressing for Russia to give up Crimea. “You wanna go back?” Trump asked. “You want to have World War III to get it back?”

Page is an investment banker who has criticized the Obama administration for "fomenting" Yanukovych's ouster, which infuriated Putin. Page, who has likened the U.S. role in Ukraine to Russian meddling in Canada, has extensive business ties in Russia, and has lamented the impact of Western sanctions against Moscow related to Ukraine.

"So many people who I know and have worked with have been so adversely affected by the sanctions policy,” Page told Bloomberg Politics in March. “There's a lot of excitement in terms of the possibilities for creating a better situation.”

A Trump campaign spokesman did not respond to a request for comment. (po/ez)