Ukrainians face new reality after Trump-Zelensky clash

KYIV – Ukrainians faced a daunting new reality on March 1 following the White House clash between President Volodymyr Zelensky and US President Donald Trump which plunged ties between Kyiv and its top military backer to a new low.

The Feb 28 confrontation

flared over differing visions of how to end Russia’s three-year-old invasion, with Mr Zelensky seeking strong security guarantees from a Trump administration that has embraced diplomacy with Vladimir Putin’s Russia.

Ukrainians, many of them hardened by three years of war,

rallied behind Mr Zelensky

in defiance but worried about the future of US backing for Kyiv’s war effort.

“The Americans don’t know the real situation, what’s going on here,” said Ms Ella Kazantseva, 54, across from a sea of flags in central Kyiv commemorating Ukraine’s war dead.

“They don’t understand. Everything is beautiful for them.”

Ms Kazantseva is from eastern Ukraine, where fighting has been fierce. She was speaking shortly after the air force said it had destroyed more than 100 Russian-launched drones across Ukraine in the latest Russian attack.

In the northeastern city of Kharkiv, where

a hospital was damaged overnight

and seven people wounded, a local resident who identified himself as Ivan compared Mr Trump’s behaviour to the main character in the 1972 gangster film The Godfather.

“Kiss the ring. If you don’t, get out,” he said, bundled up in a beige jacket.

Minerals deal not signed

Following the spat in Washington, an agreement between Ukraine and the US to jointly develop Ukraine’s natural resources - seen as important to peace efforts - was left unsigned and in limbo.

Mr Zelensky, before being welcomed by British Prime Minister Keir Starmer in London on March 1,

struck a conciliatory tone

on social media, thanking the US for its support and saying he still hoped to sign the deal.

“Despite the tough dialogue, we remain strategic partners,” he wrote on X.

“But we need to be honest and direct with each other to truly understand our shared goals.”

The spokeswoman for Russia’s Foreign Ministry said Mr Zelensky’s US trip had been a diplomatic failure and showed the Ukrainian leader wanted the war to continue.

Kyiv resident Liudmyla Stetsevych, 47, said she feared her country was being squeezed by larger powers.

“Trump and Putin are dividing up the world - that’s what I would say. I don’t know what will come of it,” she said.

Ms Stetsevych and others interviewed by Reuters expressed hope that Ukraine’s allies in Europe would boost political and military support if the US dialled back its own.

European leaders leapt to Mr Zelensky’s defence after the Feb 28 spat.

“A new era of wickedness has begun,” said German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock on March 1, calling for Germany to release an additional €3 billion (S$4.2 billion) in aid for Ukraine.

Ukrainian lawmaker Andrii Osadchuk said the tone from Mr Trump and Vice-President J.D. Vance was in line with prior rhetoric, and that Kyiv’s other Western partners needed to do more.

“Not just a lot, but probably everything will depend on Europe - both for itself and for Ukraine,” Mr Osadchuk said.

Former president Petro Poroshenko, MrZelensky’s main domestic political rival, said it was not the time to criticise MrZelensky but that he hoped the president had a “Plan B”.

Summit of leaders

A wider summit of European leaders will be held in London on March 2 to discuss a security backstop to any peace agreement between Moscow and Kyiv.

EU leaders are also expected to meet later next week to discuss an increase in defence spending. On March 1, Nato chief Mark Rutte told Mr Zelensky that he needed to find a way to

restore his relationship

with Mr Trump.

Ukrainian news outlet European Pravda said Mr Zelensky’s spat with US leaders, while potentially damaging, sent a powerful signal of how seriously Ukraine takes its sovereignty.

“Regardless where history takes us, the world - including Donald Trump - was convinced that these issues truly matter for Ukraine,” it said in a column.

Political analyst Yevhen Hlibovytsky, director of the Frontier Institute in Kyiv, pointed to prior “false predictions” from outside observers about Ukraine’s ability to carry on with limited Western support.

“Does that mean that Ukraine will overperform in the future? Not necessarily,” he said. “But, as a rule of thumb, I would say that Ukraine is usually more resilient than it looks from the outside.” REUTERS