Trump America: A somber day for Ukraine

Yulia, 35, Kyiv

I’m trying not to fall into the pit of death from all this news. No one knows what will happen next, but the pseudo-experts with forecasts and endless analytics really screwed up. I feel very sorry for the people who in America hoped for changes to another vector, minorities, women etcetera. Normal people are now in despair and hopelessness in your country. But in our country, you know Obama was the first to turn a blind eye to Ukraine when Russia occupied Crimea. 

So it’s really difficult to say for sure who is better for us, becaiise none of them really understands our pain, what we are going through. Some political forces do not give enough to win, others threaten to take away aid altogether, or to strengthen it. How screwed up it all is. I was watching supporting Kamala videos from all my favorite actors and other cool people, and was hoping that their voice of support will make a difference. Sometimes there is a feeling that betraying Ukrainains is also an American style. But humor will save the world, or at least mental stability, time to time. Ukrainian twitter [is] full of astonishing memes about today’s news. 

Jane 27, Lviv 

The election results was the first thing that I checked when I woke up in the morning today. For me right now it brings even more uncertainty in a bad way. Trump is very unpredictable. I hope it [aid] won’t stop at all, but we’ll see. They say he’s likely to push to freeze the war by encouraging us to negotiate. This is not so good for Ukraine as parts of the territory will still remain vulnerable. I keep getting the same response from everybody: It’s a disaster

Sergey, 42, Kharkiv

Trump is bad, Kamila Harris is bad. I asked a lot of people [ in Khakriv] if you wish Trump if you wish Kamala, and maybe 80 percent said Trump. Most wanted Trump, but he's crazy and I think he's a liar. But ending war in 24 hours we will see. 

Alexandra, 23, Dnipro

As painful and unfair as it may be, it seems to me that most Ukrainains have already agreed to lose part of our terrority just to stop this huge number of deaths of our people. Both civlian and military. On the one hand, I really hope that he will help Ukraine to end the war. And already todat he said in his speech: I will stop the wars, there were no wars in the four years of my last term. Those words give hope. But on the other hand, Trump doesn’t condemn Russia much and I’m worried about whether he’ll put Ukraine in Putin’s hands. Trump is a very ambiguous politician who is hard to trust and can change the course of his words and thoughts at any moment in my opinion. 

Andrii, 17, occupied Kherson region 

[It’s] unclear. Very unclear. The words about ending the war in 24 hours sound very selfish. Plus the war can be ended in even in two hours, but at what cost? Give up more territories? I’m not afraid that Ukraine will lose. I am afraid that Ukraine will not be allowed to win. Many of my friends take a humiliating position–they don’t care who becomes president or what happens in Ukraine, as long as their home is not touched, even if it is a third world war. 

Maybe there is something wrong with me, but I remain loyal to my country. I respect my president. I hate the members of parlimanet. I have respect for the military who have been in the same trneches for three years and are dying. Unfortunaelty the world forgets about it. And I honestly feel afraid for my country. On the one hand. There has never been such a mood of ending the war in the air. On the other hand, at what cost?

Eva, 32, Kharkiv

To be honest, we have nothing else but to just sit and wait. It could be nothing more, or even more worthy for us. Let’s see then. If he forces us somehow to sign the ending on unacceptable conditions as an option [lose]. He said that he gonna finish the war, but we all know he’s just talking anything to please his supporters, plus he’s unpredictable and seems to tolerate Putin. So, I don’t know what to expect.

Nikoletta, 21, Kharkiv

When I saw the published chart of the states with red in the morning, my breath caught in my throat for a minute. It was a mixed feeling of fear and disappointment as the headlines began to flood the news with the headlines “Trump is the 47th President of the United States of America.” To be honest, if I were an American citizen, I wold have had the same emotions, because Trump’s candidacy never seemed “healthy” to me, not even a single day or rally. All I saw in the Repubican election campaign was a show, misogyny towards the opponent Kamala harris, the cult of Trump’s personality, and a huge number of freaks. Looking at all the actions of the future president, I repeatedly thought that he had the makings of a dictator. First and foremost, it concerns his stubbornness to gain power at any cost. It is very difficult for me to imagine how such an almost hysterical personality will try to regulate world politics in the most difficult times since the end of World War Two. 

I’m a journalist by training and by profession, and I live in Kharkiv. This is a huge city of millions of people, 18 miles from the front line. The locals are very concerned that Trump has won, because they do not count on his support in this war. Neither with weapons nor with soliders. Many are afraid that his vision of resolving the conflict is to surrendeer Ukrainian terrorities to Russia, or to freeze it. Which, in fact, is not a solution to the conflict. We are still being bombed every day. My boyfriend and future husband is now fighting on the other side of the compass from me. We are separated by a 62 miles, and I am very worried about him and his fellow soldiers. Because the situation is still complicated. We are losing people and terrority every day. As a Ukrainian, I am not sure that Trump’s policy will be able to stop this and not make it even more difficult for the whole of Europe.