Could this be the year, as President-elect Donald J. Trump has promised, when Russia's war against Ukraine ends?
The prospect of peace brought “tears to my eyes,” said Valeria, 30, an English teacher in eastern Ukraine.
As Mr. As Trump prepares to return to the White House on Monday, he is promising peace in Ukraine, but has not publicly offered a strategy for how he might achieve this — aside from his stated desire to meet with Russian President Vladimir V. Putin. So Ukrainians can only guess what the coming months will bring.
No one, says Valeria, wants peace more than the people of Ukraine. But having lost so much, with hundreds of thousands killed and wounded, the Ukrainian people will not accept peace at any price, he said. He asked that his family name not be used because he fears for the safety of his father who still lives under Russia.
“Europe and the United States must remember that any cessation of hostilities or negotiations will only be valid if they respect the sacrifices made by the Ukrainian people and ensure a just, secure and independent future for Ukraine,” he said.
Since Mr. After Trump won re-election in November, The New York Times spoke to scores of Ukrainians — former soldiers, displaced civilians and townspeople far from the battlefield but under bombing — about their attacks. hopes and fears before his inauguration.
Many people are feeling frustrated — angered by what some see as an overly cautious approach by the Biden administration, and enduring months of delays in getting aid to the U.S. military last year after being held up in Congress. As the war continues, Ukraine faces a powerful rival and is heavily dependent on American military support.
The Trump administration, most agree, will bring about change. But many are concerned that the change will not be positive, especially if military aid is withheld.
“Some say this is the end of Ukraine,” said Anna, 29, an artist who asked not to use her last name out of concern that Russians would harass her online. “But since I consider him to be an unstable person,” he said of Mr. Trump, “I can't say for sure.”
“I hope for justice and that Russia will face consequences for everything it has done,” he added.
On the front lines, soldiers are often said not only to defend their home but to stand as a shield protecting all of Europe from a resurgent Russian government.
Maj. Yaroslav Galas, 53, who works in the 128th Transcarpathian Mountain Assault Brigade, said he thinks that Mr.
“Trump understands that the victory of Russia and the defeat of Ukraine is the defeat of the United States and the defeat of his presidency,” he said. “This is how the world can see it.”
Andrii, 44, a military intelligence officer in Russia's Kursk region, said everyone in Ukraine experienced so much fear that the end of the war could not come soon enough.
“The war is terrible, and it must end,” he said, asking that his last name not be used in accordance with the military protocol for the soldiers mentioned earlier. “Maybe Trump will do something about it.”
But if Mr. Trump withholding military support as a way to pressure Kyiv into accepting a bad deal, he said, may not work as he had hoped.
“It's going to be bad,” he said. “It will turn into a guerrilla war.”
“We will not give up,” he said. “Many good people will die.”
Andrii was a local businessman in the border town of Sumy when the Russians invaded in February 2022. He hid his four children, he said, picked up a gun and hasn't put it down since.
“We organized ourselves and started fighting them,” he said. “We pushed them out of the city, we set up search areas, they couldn't pass. There was no government, it was just ordinary people planning and doing.”
Although political conflicts and social tensions in Ukraine have grown since the beginning of the war, he believes that the people will come together again if the terrible crime falls.
At a cemetery on the outskirts of Sumy this month, row upon row of blue and gold Ukrainian flags fluttered in the cold wind.
Kateryna Zakharuk, 25, sits next to the grave of her husband, Ivan.
When their village was occupied by Russian forces in the early days of the war, he joined his friends to fight behind enemy lines, burning Russian ammunition depots and even capturing a prisoner.
The Russians were pushed back to the border, and Ivan joined the army. He was executed on February 17, 2024.
Ms. Zakharuk visits his grave every week, she said.
“My friend's brother, who was also Ivan's friend, is buried there,” he said pointing to the headstone. “My relative is buried there. A local boy was buried there. There are many people who know each other here.”
He saw how Russian forces destroyed entire cities, leaving nothing but ashes, and worried that Sumy might face the same fate without American support.
“Not only are people's lives ruined,” he said, “but all memories are destroyed.”
Valeria, an English teacher, said her hometown had been destroyed. His family is from Kreminna, in eastern Ukraine, which has been under Russian military control since the beginning of the war.
His father is still there; He hasn't seen her in years.
“I don't know if I will see him again,” he said. “Although it may sound sarcastic, even though he is still alive, a part of me has already said goodbye to him.”
He said he did not know that Mr. What will Trump do, but he hopes that Ukraine “will have an important voice in important decisions like our future, especially in matters of war and peace.”
“Unfortunately,” he said, “there is a growing sense that the fate of Ukrainian citizens is often discussed without our participation.”
Liubov Sholudko again Anna Lukinova reporting contributed.
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