At 9am on Saturday morning, a bunch of girls unfold throughout the busiest road in central Kyiv and stopped site visitors to watch a minute of silence. A loudspeaker counted 60 ticks earlier than blaring the opening traces of the nationwide anthem — “Ukraine’s glory and freedom haven’t but perished”.
Drivers and passengers stepped out of their automobiles, standing in quiet tribute because the music echoed by the road.
It was a putting show of respect, resilience and defiance — hallmarks of Ukraine’s response within the three years since Russia’s full-blown invasion triggered the worst battle in Europe because the second world battle.
And it appeared to tackle particular which means the day after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s fiery Oval Workplace conflict with US President Donald Trump and vice-president JD Vance.
Ukrainians, hardened by repeated Russian assaults and fast to rally within the face of international threats, are throwing their help behind their chief after the stunning assembly which has significantly strained Kyiv’s ties with Washington.
“Zelenskyy acted accurately. Even when it prices us quite a bit, this was about dignity,” mentioned Solomiia Bobrovska, an opposition MP and member of the parliamentary committee on nationwide safety and intelligence.
The assaults by Trump and Vance will — within the quick time period, no less than — galvanise Ukraine’s troops, a commander in an artillery unit combating on the jap frontline informed the Monetary Occasions.
“It was a fucking present and Trump didn’t conceal [his disdain]” for Zelenskyy, he mentioned. “It’s a terrific reminder of the need to depend on ourselves solely, with all respect to those that have helped us.”
In Kyiv, opposition lawmaker Inna Sovsun urged her compatriots to “preserve calm”. “This isn’t the worst we’ve confronted — although, like every knife within the again, it stings essentially the most when surprising,” she mentioned.
Some noticed the very public row as a propaganda win for the Kremlin.
“It appears that evidently President Trump exaggerated when he mentioned that there’s a giant ocean between Russia and the US,” Stanislav Aseyev, a Ukrainian author and former soldier, mentioned in a submit on X. “Immediately, America was nearer to Moscow than at any time in historical past.”
Throughout Ukraine, there’s a actual sense that the nation has entered its most perilous part of the battle since Russia’s assaults on Kyiv within the opening weeks of the marketing campaign, three years in the past. Trump’s accusation that Zelenskyy is “playing with world battle three” has deepened the unease.
A authorities adviser watching the drama unfold at a cocktail party in Kyiv on Friday night described feeling “at risk”, fearing that the US president’s hostility would result in the abandonment of Ukraine. “Trump humiliated the Ukrainian president,” the adviser mentioned.
Ukrainians had anticipated Trump and Zelenskyy to signal a minerals deal — a step Zelenskyy sees as essential to securing US help for future ceasefire ensures. However an individual current with Zelenskyy within the Oval Workplace informed the FT that the deal was left unsigned.
Volodymyr Fesenko, director of the Penta centre for political research, a Kyiv think-tank, mentioned he had anticipated tensions to flare throughout future peace negotiations, provided that Trump and Zelenskyy’s positions weren’t absolutely aligned — “nevertheless it occurred a lot earlier” than he had thought.
“Contemplating . . . the intense emotionality of each Zelensky and Trump, and the provocative function of JD Vance, this was sure to occur [at some point],” Fesenko mentioned.
He mentioned that the west was now going through a full-blown “disaster, each within the relationship between Zelenskyy and Trump and on the interstate degree”.
The shouting match has fuelled Ukrainians’ worries concerning the resilience of US help.
Members of Ukraine’s parliament and troopers combating on the frontline mentioned that they concern recriminations from the US, which has supplied $66bn in army help over the previous three years.
Trump may minimize the safety help which Ukraine wants to carry again Russian forces’ advances on the battlefields of jap Ukraine, and to shoot down the missiles and drones that assault its vital infrastructure every day.
It may additionally minimize Starlink connections supplied by Elon Musk’s SpaceX, that are broadly utilized by Ukraine’s army to speak and function drones throughout the 1,000km frontline. Any weakening of US help would hand Moscow a bonus.
“It’s not nearly weapons — extra importantly, the US offers Ukraine with intelligence, together with real-time details about Russian missile and drone launches, which we’re totally depending on,” mentioned Volodymyr Ariev, an opposition lawmaker and shut ally of former president Petro Poroshenko, who has been vital of Zelenskyy.
Ariev mentioned Ukraine and the US “want to seek out diplomatic options” to restore the connection in order that “the Trump administration will keep the help already agreed”.
About $3.85bn of what Congress authorised for added withdrawals from the Pentagon’s shares stays to be drawn down, in accordance with Ukrainian and US officers.
“Either side are at fault however Ukraine is in a extra weak state of affairs,” Ariev mentioned. “So we’ve got to place apart all reflections and feelings and focus on [getting] outcomes.”
On Saturday Zelenskyy took to social media to supply because of Trump and the US folks for his or her “important” help. However, he emphasised, it was vital to be “trustworthy and direct”, and reiterated his place on a ceasefire.
“As president Reagan as soon as mentioned, ‘Peace isn’t just the absence of battle’,” Zelenskyy wrote. “We’re speaking about simply and lasting peace — freedom, justice, and human rights for everybody. A ceasefire gained’t work with Putin. He has damaged ceasefires 25 instances over the previous 10 years. An actual peace is the one resolution.”
Further reporting by Fabrice Deprez in Kyiv
