Kyiv: As Donald Trump’s second term as U.S. president commences, Ukrainian soldiers and civilians anticipate a challenging future in their ongoing conflict with Russia. Many have grown weary, yearning for a ceasefire, even if it means not fully expelling Russian forces from their territory.
Trump’s aides have acknowledged that negotiating a peace deal could extend over months, despite the president-elect’s campaign promises of a swift resolution to the conflict initiated by Russia’s invasion in 2022. There’s a palpable fear among Ukrainians that they might be compelled to make significant concessions after three years of relentless combat across a 1,000-km (600-mile) front line.
The continuity of U.S. military support under Trump remains uncertain. Kyiv has already suffered substantial losses and faced relentless Russian advances, and the future supply of U.S. weaponry is in doubt.
“There is a really big deficit of people. There are many demoralising factors in the news,” said a strike drone pilot from Ukraine’s 113th Territorial Defence Brigade, identified by his battlefield callsign “Hell”. He expressed a cautious hope for more Western fighter planes to counter the Russian aerial threats but refrained from commenting directly on Trump.
Hell’s unit operates in Vovchansk, a town that experienced occupation, liberation, and re-occupation, leaving it in ruins. “The town’s practically destroyed, there’s not much left, just the ruins of a factory,” said another soldier, 21-year-old “Vietnam”.
Years of Assaults Wear Down Ukrainian Morale
Vovchansk epitomizes the weariness pervading Ukraine. Hell reflected on the morale of his unit, inspired by stories of resilience like that of an uncle and nephew duo who joined after surviving occupation. “Yes it’s difficult, sometimes it might be hard to understand – but the people who lived through those horrors are far more motivated, because they don’t question what they’re doing here.”
Interviews conducted in the Kharkiv region last week revealed that while Russian forces could sustain high casualties through repetitive infantry assaults, Ukraine struggles with manpower.
In the cities, the atmosphere was somber on the eve of Trump’s inauguration. Anton Dubchak, a 23-year-old student in Kyiv’s Maidan square, expressed a mixed sentiment, “I think he could help [end the war] but it won’t be quick and it won’t necessarily be in our favour. At the front line, everything is terrible, that’s all.”
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In Kharkiv, one of the most shelled cities, Siria Shapovalova, a pensioner from the heavily damaged Saltivka district, pleaded for peace, “It just can’t go on like this. Saltivka is almost destroyed.”
Nearby, Oleksandra Frolova, a 23-year-old civil servant, expressed skepticism about foreign intervention, stating, “The new president won’t stop the war, no matter what he promises – 24 hours, 30, 60, 90 days. I think only we can change anything.”
