Ukraine
braces as triumphant Trump vows to ‘stop wars’
Facing the
loss of their top financial backer, Ukrainians resolve to continue fighting the
Russian invasion.
November 6,
2024 10:18 am CET
By Veronika
Melkozerova
KYIV —
Ukrainians reacted with a mix of trepidation and grim resolve to the news that
Donald Trump will likely be reelected U.S. president, after he vowed to
"stop wars" in a victorious speech Wednesday morning.
After almost
three years of war, officials in Kyiv acknowledged that Ukraine would now
likely have to look to its allies elsewhere in the West for support as it seeks
to fend off a renewed Russian offensive, backed up by thousands of North Korean
troops. Trump has repeatedly claimed he would end the war in Ukraine in one day
and vowed to stop aid to Kyiv. The U.S. is Ukraine's top backer when it comes
to funding.
In a
pragmatic statement on social media Wednesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr
Zelenskyy recalled his "great meeting" with Trump in September and
praised the Republican's "commitment to the 'peace through strength'
approach in global affairs." But in a telling line, he added: "We
rely on continued strong bipartisan support for Ukraine in the United
States."
Despite the
Ukrainian government's repeated insistence over the course of the U.S. election
campaign that it has bipartisan support in Washington, it was clear the
prospects of a Trump victory weighed heavily on Kyiv. Trump’s Republican Party
blocked aid to Ukraine for over nine months from October 2023 to April 2024,
forcing Kyiv to deplete its wartime budget and leading to the loss of some of
its most capable fighters. The mood in Kyiv on Wednesday was grim but resolved.
Tymofiy
Mylovanov, president of the Kyiv School of Economics, said in a Facebook post:
“We’ll have to live in Trump’s world now. I am very skeptical that the war will
end in 24 hours, as he promised. But we definitely won’t get bored."
Trump’s
unpredictability has left Ukrainians uncertain about what to expect from his
second presidency.
The
Republican has repeatedly claimed to have a good relationship with Russian
President Vladimir Putin and derided Zelenskyy as “the greatest salesman in
history." But he has also claimed that he'd told Putin the U.S. would bomb
Moscow if he tried to attack Ukraine.
Oleksandr
Merezhko, head of the foreign relations committee in the Ukrainian parliament,
took a relatively optimistic view, saying a Trump presidency required a change
of approach from Kyiv.
"I do
not think that his presidency will be bad for Ukraine — maybe difficult,
challenging, but not necessarily bad," Merezhko told POLITICO. "Trump
is a pragmatic businessman" who "thinks in terms of costs and
benefits," he added, meaning Ukraine will need to work hard to convince
him to continue backing Kyiv.
Sem comentários:
Enviar um comentário