President Trump’s position among Ukrainians is actually supported by life. But many, after meeting with Volodymyr Zelensky, cheered in a statement issued on Saturday, questioning why Russia’s President Vladimir V. Putin will continue to attack Ukraine as the United States attempts to promote peace talks.
“It makes me think maybe he doesn’t want to stop the war, he’s just laughing at me,” Mr. Trump said after meeting with Zelensky at Pope Francis’ funeral.
The event of the day was the victory of Mr. Zelensky and Ukraine, a critical moment in the war, beginning with a full-scale Russian invasion in February 2022. The proposal would force Kief to abandon his desire to join NATO, provide Ukraine with a vague security assurance and see the United States formally recognize Crimea as Russian. Ukraine rejected the deal, which the Trump administration described as the final proposal.
But now, Ukrainians see a small handful of hope that Mr. Trump will not try to force Ukraine to develop a prejudiced peace plan. It first came from a massive Russian missile strike on the Ukrainian capital earlier Thursday, killing 12 people and injuring nearly 90 people. “Vladimir, stop!” Mr. Trump released the truth social in a rare condemnation of Mr. Putin.
Then, when Mr. Zelensky managed to quarrel with Mr. Trump in Rome for about 15 minutes, hopefully, slightly developed on Saturday. Photos released by the Ukrainian government show two men sitting in chairs, leaning against each other, like talking on equal terms – a very different story from the catastrophic meeting held in the Oval Office in late February, while Mr. Zelensky suddenly set out from the White House and temporarily freezes all of our aid.
Volodymyr Dubovyk, director of the International Research Center at Odesa II Mechnikov National University, said Rome’s “extraordinary” photos. He added that it was a good thing for Mr. Zelensky to have a while with Mr. Trump.
“I think Trump’s team has too much contact with the Kremlin and its views on conversations, so it’s useful to have Keefe present their views directly to Trump. Perhaps Trump will now understand the focus of Ukraine,” Mr. Dupovik said.
Some Ukrainians admitted in an interview in Kiev on Sunday that Mr. Trump could change his mind at an alarming rate. But they were comforted that the White House called Saturday’s conversation “a very productive discussion.”
Oleh Karas, 40, is collecting donations to buy drones outside the Memorial of the Degenerate Soldiers, calling the photos of the two leaders “stunning” and saying “Trump is listening to him.”
As he stood in front of thousands of flags planted on the ground, each marked with a dead soldier, Mr. Carlas said: “You should take Trump here. Let him see this place. Let him go to the place where the missile hits. Let him see what happened.”
Even the small matter of Mr. Trump’s brief meeting with Mr. Zelensky is a major change. Since taking office, the Trump administration has sometimes seemed to have almost solicited sharp reversals in U.S. policy against Mr. Putin. There is no secret that Mr. Trump dislikes Ukrainian leaders.
So Mr. Trump’s remarks to many people in Ukraine seem like a defense, or what they have been saying for years: Mr. Putin may not have told the truth. Russia annexed Crimea in 2014. Since then, Ukraine has also fought Russia in the eastern Donbass region, where Mr. Putin has violated several peace agreements aimed at ending the violence there. The Russian leader has also repeatedly claimed that he had no intention of strengthening his offensive against Ukraine – until his tanks crossed the border in 2022 to begin a full-scale invasion.
This history is why the Ukrainian government insists that any peace agreement in the war with Russia must include strong security assurances and why NATO members are required, even if the dream has been put on hold.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitri S. Peskov told reporters in a briefing broadcast on Russian state television on Sunday that it was too early to talk about the terms of any peace agreement, adding that the negotiations were not public.
Ukrainians themselves use their own peace plan to oppose the Trump administration’s peace plan, which calls for European peacekeeping forces to provide backups with the United States. In social media posts after Saturday’s meeting, Mr. Zelensky did not elaborate on his conversation with Mr. Trump, but they said they spoke of “a full and unconditional ceasefire” and “a reliable and lasting peace that would prevent another war from breaking out.”
Mr. Trump has repeatedly stated that Ukraine is losing war and has no leverage to demand large deals from Russia – a trading method of foreign policy that conflicts with many Western leaders. Ukraine seemed to have lost some leverage at some point: Russian troops completely recaptured the Kursk region more than eight months after the Ukrainian army sparked a surprise invasion. Ukrainian officials continued to deny that they had been driven out by the Kursks on Sunday.
Military analyst Serhiy Hrabsky, a former former colonel of the Ukrainian army, said on Sunday that it is too early to talk about a peaceful deal and that Moscow is playing “political table tennis” with the Trump administration.
He added: “Russia will not stop.”
On Sunday, Ukrainian Economy Minister Yulia Svyrydenko and close ally of Mr. Zelensky called the meeting between Mr. Trump and Mr. Zelensky “had a chance to move forward – to build real peace through strength.” In a social media post, she said that only stronger sanctions and greater pressure on Russia could end the war.
After the meeting between Mr. Zelensky and Mr. Trump, Senator Lindsey Graham, a Republican from South Carolina, is a staunch ally of Ukraine, but his tone changed as Mr. Trump promotes rapid peace efforts. He praised the Trump administration’s efforts to promote a ceasefire and touted recent bipartisan threats to impose more sanctions on Moscow.
Nevertheless, there is no doubt that pressure on Ukraine to reach a deal at home and in the Trump administration is still increasing. Kiev Mayor Vitali Klitschko has tensions with Mr Zelensky, and the BBC told the BBC that it had at least temporarily abandoned its peaceful lands after a massive missile attack on Thursday. Mr Zelensky also said that Ukraine may have to ced some territory to reach a peace agreement – as long as security assurances are obtained, peace agreements can be regained through diplomatic means, such as NATO members.
Despite positive feelings about the two leaders’ meeting on Saturday, questions about their relationship remain. After the brief meeting, a Ukrainian spokesman said the two will talk again later on Saturday. But Mr. Trump quickly left the pope’s funeral. He told his assistant earlier that he wanted to return to the New Jersey golf resort at the end of the day.
After Mr. Trump boarded the Air Force and left alone, a Ukrainian spokesman said a second meeting would not be held due to “the president’s urgent timetable.”
Oleksandra mykolyshyn and Nataliya Vasilyeva Contribution report.
