Suffering Ukrainians dismayed by outcome and optics of Trump-Putin summit
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Ukrainians rallying in front of the US Embassy in Kyiv ahead of Mr Donald Trump and Mr Vladimir Putin's Aug 15 Alaska summit.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Follow topic:
- Ukrainians are angry that Trump and Putin didn't agree on a truce and that Trump welcomed Putin to Alaska, seeing it as a win for Putin.
- Anger stems from continued suffering in Ukraine, such as glide bomb attacks in the Zaporizhzhia region and ballistic missiles in Sumy.
- Some Ukrainians feel betrayed, viewing Trump as being the "same" as Putin, especially after seeing a manipulated image online.
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KYIV/ZAPORIZHZHIA, Ukraine – Ukrainians expressed anger and frustration on Aug 16 over the failure of the US and Russian presidents to agree on the need for a truce in the Ukraine war at a summit, and the sight of Mr Donald Trump giving Mr Vladimir Putin a red-carpet welcome in Alaska.
Mr Trump urged Ukraine to make a deal
Mr Trump also said he agreed with Mr Putin that the sides should focus on an overall peace settlement, not via a ceasefire, as Kyiv and its European allies have been demanding – until now with US support.
“He (Mr Putin) won. Trump showed his attitude towards him and at the same time towards us. This meeting did not end well for Ukraine,” said a 26-year-old soldier, who gave only his call sign, “Dzha”.
“We need to end the war. We need to really sit down at the negotiating table and talk, come to an agreement, because every day fighters die, get injured.”
Dzha was serving as godfather at a baptism in a church in Zaporizhzhia, south-eastern Ukraine, one of four regions Russia claims to have annexed, though it does not fully control them.
‘Bombs will keep falling’
“They (Mr Putin and Mr Trump) made some agreements for their states,” said Mr Viktor Tkach, the chaplain conducting the baptism.
“And here in Ukraine, in Zaporizhzhia, in the Zaporizhzhia region, we will keep suffering, glide bombs will keep falling on us.”
Some were outraged that Mr Trump had invited Mr Putin to the US and treated him with such respect, as an equal.
Mr Putin has been ostracised by Western leaders since launching the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and is wanted by the International Criminal Court,
Ukrainian soldiers attending a military drill in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region on Aug 13.
PHOTO: REUTERS
“Literally yesterday, a ballistic missile was launched at Sumy. And this animal (Mr Putin) flies to Alaska where people applaud him, and the red carpet is rolled out in front of him,” said Ms Hanna Kucherenko, a 25-year-old model, in Kyiv.
“How is that even possible now?”
A manipulated image of Mr Trump and Mr Putin shaking hands on the airport tarmac against the backdrop of bombed residential apartment blocks in Ukraine circulated widely online.
“I do not know what Trump is even thinking about. I have an impression that he is just the same (as Mr Putin),” said Kyiv pensioner Tetiana Vorobei.
“They are identical.” REUTERS
