Suffering Ukrainians dismayed by outcome and optics of Trump-Putin summit

KYIV/ZAPORIZHZHIA, Ukraine – Ukrainians expressed anger and frustration on Saturday (Aug 16) over the failure of the US and Russian presidents to agree on the need for a truce in the Ukraine war at a summit, and the sight of Donald Trump giving Vladimir Putin a red-carpet welcome in Alaska.

Trump urged Ukraine to make a deal to end the war because “Russia is a very big power”. Trump also said he agreed with Putin that the sides should focus on an overall peace settlement, not via a ceasefire, as Kyiv and its European allies have been demanding – until now with US support.

“He (Putin) won. Trump showed his attitude towards him and at the same time towards us. This meeting did not end well for Ukraine,” said a 26-year-old soldier who gave only his call-sign “Dzha”.

“… we need to end the war. We need to really sit down at the negotiating table and talk, come to an agreement, because every day fighters die, get injured.”

“Dzha” was serving as godfather at a baptism in a church in Zaporizhzhia, southeastern Ukraine, one of four regions Russia claims to have annexed, though it does not fully control them.

‘Bombs will keep falling on us’

“They (Putin and Trump) made some agreements for their states,” said Viktor Tkach, the chaplain conducting the baptism. “And here in Ukraine, in Zaporizhzhia, in the Zaporizhzhia region, we will keep suffering, glide bombs will keep falling on us.”

Some were outraged that Trump had invited Putin to the US and treated him with such respect, as an equal.

Putin has been ostracised by Western leaders since launching the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and is wanted by the International Criminal Court, accused of the war crime of deporting hundreds of children from Ukraine, which he denies.

“Literally yesterday, a ballistic missile was launched at Sumy. And this animal (Putin) flies to Alaska where people applaud him, and the red carpet is rolled out in front of him,” said Hanna Kucherenko, a 25-year-old model, in Kyiv. “How is that even possible now?”

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A manipulated image of Trump and Putin shaking hands on the airport tarmac against the backdrop of bombed residential apartment blocks in Ukraine circulated widely online.

“I do not know what Trump is even thinking about. I have an impression that he is just the same (as Putin),” said Kyiv pensioner Tetiana Vorobei. “They are identical.”