Natalia Klymyuk, who has been volunteering for 11 years to take care of a war memorial in kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, said that she had never distinguished herself to President Trump.
Wednesday, she was held among a crowd of people in the memorial, in the place of independence in the center of kyiv, where tens of thousands of small flags floated, each representing a soldier killed during the relentless invasion of Russia . The atmosphere was particularly dark.
One day earlier, Mr. Trump, from his Mar-A-Lago estate in Florida, had blamed Ukraine for violence. “You should never have started,” he said, referring to Ukrainian leaders who have not, in fact, started war.
His commentary amazed many Ukrainians, who saw him as a blatant betrayal.
“I do not believe in negotiations,” said Klymyuk, 51, who plants new flags on the site daily and eliminates snow. Referring to President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia and President Volodymyr Zelensky from Ukraine, she added: “Trump has always been a friend of Putin, and I don’t think he has suddenly become our friend. He only pursues his own interests in the back of Zelensky. »»
Marina Ivashyna, 30, who crossed the place, said that her father died in the war and that her husband was missing in combat. “It’s difficult for me-I don’t think something good will happen,” she said, melting in tears. “I don’t believe in these negotiations.”
The refrain of Ms. Klymyuk and Mrs. Ivashyna represents a growing feeling in Ukraine while the United States and Russia turned to a reset of the head of their relationship which could disadvantage Ukraine in the war. Ukrainians are disillusioned by the Trump administration, according to many analysts.
In December, a large percentage of Ukrainians said they had trusted Trump, who was then the president -elected. Wednesday, expressions of disappointment and even rage were everywhere: from the front to the east to the streets of kyiv, from social media to the rooms of government buildings.
“Many people were tired of Biden’s indecision and hoped that Trump would be able to force Russia to end war, and we can see that they are now disappointed,” said Oleh Saakyan, political analyst and Co -founder of the national platform for resilience and social cohesion, a Ukrainian reflection group.
During his press conference on Tuesday, Trump also denied Mr. Zelensky and suggested that new elections in Ukraine should play a role in the country’s negotiations with Russia. He deepened his criticisms on Wednesday, calling Mr. Zelensky a “dictator” who took money in the United States to make war on Russia.
“Ukrainians may not like their government, but they are devoted to the value of freedom of choice,” said Saakyan. “People in Ukraine get angry when freedom of choice is removed from them, and that’s exactly what Trump did when he started dictating to the Ukrainians they need elections.”
A 36 -year -old special operations soldier fighting in eastern Ukraine, who asked to be identified only by his call signal, CAP, for security reasons, went further. “I can be frank: Trump is like Putin,” he said. “He will never say the truth and invent what he wants.” He added that Ukraine should not count on Mr. Trump.
“Whenever soldiers hear what Trump says, it gives them a nervous contraction,” he said.
Yulia Hrebnyeva, member of the municipal council of the Ukrainian city in the north of Chernihiv, said that she had “no understanding of Mr. Trump’s speech on Tuesday, with her Russian propaganda echoes.
“We were expecting actions that could help us win, not that he was just going to sit and speak with our enemy,” she said. At the start of the invasion, Ms. Hrebnyeva’s house was struck by a falling Russian fighter. At the time, she was hiding in the basement with her children.
For many, Mr. Trump’s press conference on Tuesday was a moment of truth. They hoped that he would respect the commitment of the United States to the war effort of Ukraine. Instead, the president blamed Ukraine for war and made several false complaints, in particular that Mr. Zelensky had a note of approval of only 4%. In fact, recent surveys brought its approval rating between 42 and 57%.
For the other Ukrainians, their confidence in the United States had already completed this weekend, when it has become clear that peace talks with Russia would begin without Ukrainian participation.
“Goodbye America”, Yevhen Dykyi, political analyst and Ukrainian veteran, wrote on Facebook. “We must accept the reality that we no longer have an ally on the other side of the Atlantic.”
Even the opponents of Mr. Zelensky were angry with Mr. Trump’s comments. Oleksandr Notevskyi, analyst at the Center for Policy Training and Vocal Criticism of the Ukrainian President, denounced Mr. Trump for interfering in the domestic policy of Ukraine.
As much as he hoped that another leader would soon replace Mr. Zelensky, said Mr. Notevskyi, he firmly believed that such decisions should only be made by the Ukrainian people. Foreign criticisms like those of Mr. Trump, said Notèvskyi on social networks, was not only “an attack on Volodymyr Zelensky”.
“It is an attack on the president of Ukraine, on our sovereign government and on the Ukrainian state,” he wrote.
“The most important feature of Ukrainians is our ability to unite under pressure and defend our choice,” said Mr. Notevskyi later in an interview. “The vibrations are the same. But this time, the target of our rage will be someone else. No one will impose anything on us.
The Ukrainians fear that they have lost the United States as an ally.
“Several factors indicate that the United States is no longer a key partner for Ukraine,” said Maria Zolkina, Ukrainian political analyst at the London School of Economics. “Before the start of the negotiations, Trump sacrificed the posts which were fundamental to Ukraine”, including membership in NATO and control of the territory. Mr. Trump, she said, “gave Carte Blanche to the occupation.”
Ihor Lachenkov, a Ukrainian and volunteer civil activist, wrote An angry article on Facebook criticizing Mr. Trump’s assertion that Mr. Zelensky could have negotiated. “I’m so tired of all of this,” he said. “Of course, it was the bad Ukrainians who simply refused to surrender and abandon,” he added sarcastically.
The soldiers also monitor Mr. Trump’s speeches. His latest comments have left a lot enraged.
But a soldier from the 82nd air assault brigade, Who asked not to be identified because he was not allowed to speak to the media, said that Mr. Trump’s statements would not dissuade him as well as his friends.
“The main task of the 82nd air assault brigade is to release the Ukrainian territory from the occupants and defend our country,” he said. “We will continue to do so, whatever Trump’s statements.”
Oleksandr Merezhko, a member of the Ukrainian Parliament of Mr. Zelensky’s party and president of the Foreign Affairs Committee, said that despite the words of Mr. Trump, it was important for Ukraine to stay in dialogue with the United States. “The situation is difficult, but not hopeless,” he said. “Trump himself gives advice in such situations: never give up!”
Oleksandra Mykolyshyn Kyiv’s contributed reports and Yurii Shyvala de Lviv, Ukraine.
