Perhaps there are a few in kyiv and other Ukrainian cities who, from three o’clock in the morning, followed the first counting of the American presidential vote: a Russian kamikaze drone attack was then underway in several regions, and the howl of the air alert siren wakes the inhabitants of the capital from their sleep.
But the alert was short-lived, and it was only when they woke up that these Ukrainians learned of the return, at first probable, then quickly certain, of Donald Trump to the White House.
A resigned Ukraine
The awakening is groggy, but the news does not give the country the impression of a cold shower, as the Ukrainian authorities had for several months resigned themselves to this possibility. An additional source of anxiety and uncertainty nevertheless, after the drone attacks, while the Russian army has made unprecedented gains in the Donbass for several weeks and has just deployed North Korean troops in the Kursk region. While millions of Ukrainians are preparing for a new winter with long power cuts.
Donald Trump, president: Volodymyr Zelensky has already had the perilous experience of this. The Ukrainian president was quick to react: “Congratulations to Donald Trump on his impressive election victory! “, he tweeted on Wednesday morning. The opportunity for Volodymyr Zelensky also to recall his meeting with the future president in September: the Republican candidate then assured the impassive one that “The president (Zelensky) wants the war to stop, I’m sure President Putin wants that too and it’s a good combination.”
Pour Kiev, “The important thing now will be to show that Ukraine is ready to help Trump keep his election promise to end the war as quickly as possible and with a fair deal, estimates Alyona Getmanchouk, an international relations specialist based in kyiv. We must not refuse invitations from Trump or his team to discuss possible negotiations, and we must explain why Trump also has an interest in a fair and lasting peace, and not in a war in the middle or at the end of his mandate . »
The plunge into the unknown
“But no one imagines that Donald Trump will suddenly fall in love with Ukraine,” adds the analyst. If kyiv now expects that a newly elected Trump will immediately seek to push it into negotiations with Moscow, the hope is that this pressure will be coupled with a renewed promise of support.
In kyiv, even before the election, voices in political circles were counting on the personality of the future 47th president to envisage a scenario in which, put off by a Kremlin refusing to negotiate on its terms, he would decide to increase his support tenfold. Ukraine. “This scenario requires Trump to feel personally upset by Putin,” which a Ukrainian expert doubts.
The nightmare scenario is that of a Trump supported by a Congress won over to his cause, which would force kyiv to accept a ceasefire imposed by Moscow. That also of a Europe which would be incapable of taking over. “It had three years to rearm and increase its weapons production while Ukraine fought on the front lines,” reacted on X a reserve officer of the Ukrainian army.
“Instead, she bet on the Biden administration winning, and is now starting to panic. Putin will now push for a new security order in Europe. » For Ukraine, a Kamala Harris victory presaged stable but potentially insufficient support. That of Donald Trump now amounts to a plunge into the unknown.
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