By Dan Peleschuk and Yurii Kovalenko
KYIV (Reuters) – Ukrainians faced a stark new reality on Saturday, after a White House clash between President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and U.S. President Donald Trump plunged ties beween Kyiv and its top military backer into an unprecedented new low.
Friday’s confrontation flared over differing visions of how to end Russia’s three-year-old invasion, with Zelenskiy seeking strong security guarantees from a Trump administration that has embraced diplomacy with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Ukrainians, many of them hardened by three years of war, rallied around Zelenskiy but also expressed dismay about the future of U.S. backing for Kyiv’s war effort as larger and better equipped Russian forces march across swathes of the east.
“Trump and Putin are dividing up the world – that’s what I would say. I don’t know what will come of it,” said Kyiv resident Liudmyla Stetsevych, 47.
However, she and other Ukrainians interviewed by Reuters expressed hope that Ukraine’s allies in Europe would boost political and military support if the U.S. dialed back its own.
“We are really very grateful to (the U.S.) for the support we have received all this time and continue to receive, but our dignity and honour should come first,” said Alina Zhaivoronko, standing near a sea of small flags in central Kyiv commemorating Ukraine’s war dead.
“The Americans don’t know the real situation, what’s going on here,” said 54-year-old Ella Kazantseva, an east Ukraine native. “They don’t understand. Everything is beautiful for them.”
European leaders also leapt to Zelenskiy’s defence following the spat on Friday in an outpouring of support on social media.
ZELENSKIY TO MEET STARMER
Ukrainian lawmaker Andrii Osadchuk said he had not been surprised by the tone from Trump and Vance, and that it was further evidence that Kyiv’s Western partners would need to do more.
Top officials including Zelenskiy have sought to cast Ukraine’s defence against Russia’s full-scale invasion as central to European security more broadly.
“Not just a lot, but probably everything will depend on Europe – both for itself and for Ukraine,” Osadchuk told Reuters.
Zelenskiy will meet British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Saturday, Starmer’s office said, ahead of a wider summit of European leaders in London on Sunday to discuss a security backstop to any peace agreement between Moscow and Kyiv.
EU leaders are also expected to meet later next week to discuss an increase in defence spending.
In a column published early on Saturday, the Ukrainian news outlet European Pravda said Zelenskiy’s spat with U.S. leaders, while potentially damaging, sent a powerful signal of how seriously Ukraine takes its sovereignty.
“Regardless where history takes us, the world – including Donald Trump – was convinced that these issues truly matter for Ukraine.”
Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on Saturday that Russia is ready for flexibility in talks on Ukraine, but only in accordance with realities on the ground, state news agency RIA Novosti reported. Russia occupies around one-fifth of Ukraine.
Medvedev said Russia was ready to discuss a settlement of the Ukrainian crisis, but only with those “who are ready to communicate”.
(Writing by Dan Peleschuk, Editing by William Maclean)
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