With Donald Trump back in the White House, what consequences for the war in Ukraine? On Wednesday November 6, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky claimed to have had a “excellent” telephone exchange with his new American counterpart, after his victory in the presidential election. “Strong, steadfast leadership from the United States is essential for our world and for a just peace”he assured. On the front, this victory for Donald Trump brings additional uncertainty to Ukrainian soldiers who are already struggling to see the outcome of this war.
Met on the streets of kyiv, Roman, who wears a khaki uniform, has been fighting against Russia for 10 years in a volunteer unit of the Ukrainian army. For him, with Joe Biden, the situation has stagnated too much. So with the arrival of Donald Trump in the White House, any development is welcome, he says. In recent years, he has continued to see his comrades-in-arms die on the front. “It’s positive, because Trump has a strong character. He’s a pretentious, ambitious, narcissistic guy, he wants to be stronger than the othersassure Roman. He’s not going to kowtow to Putin, he’s going to want to prove to him that he’s the strongest. So, quite simply, he won’t be able to give him Ukraine.”
When Donald Trump says he can end the war in 24 hours, the soldier fears disastrous consequences for Ukraine. “Stopping the war is possible, he admits. In this case, we give up to the Russians the cities of Odessa, Dnipro… And if Ukraine does not agree, the Americans stop their aid. It’s possible! But at that moment, we’re left alone, and in three months it’s over, we capitulate.”
Nemets, that’s his nom de guerre, limps forward on crutches through the streets of the Ukrainian capital. At 27, this member of an army intelligence unit has just been injured near Kharkiv in an artillery fire. If he explains that he does not expect anything from Donald Trump, he remembers that in 2019, when he was in power, he was the first to supply weapons to Ukraine. “Let’s not forget who provided us with Javelin missiles, even before the large-scale war. This new election can be seen in two ways. It can work against us, but also in our favor”he emphasizes.
To remain positive, Nemets says he is convinced that a disengagement from Ukraine would damage the image of the United States. And if Donald Trump has so far given signals seen as negative to kyiv, the soldier wants to believe that this will not necessarily correspond to his actions once in power.
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