While Ukrainian troops are trying to prevent the military from Russia from the eastern part of the country, they face tens of thousands of enemy soldiers.
When the President of Ukraine was sitting in the Oval Office on Friday afternoon, he looked like a different kind of fight -the blunt testiness of the US Trump government. The combative exchange caused the allies of Ukraine and many of its citizens shock and dismay. For others, however, it was proud of how Volodymyr Zelenskyy was on the floor.
“I was obviously angry,” said Andriy Tkachuk, a Ukrainian soldier who served in the north of the country, who spoke to Zoom with CBC News.
“We understand that Trump and his administration have a political strategy, but when we talk about money, we forget people.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, US President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance had a tense exchange in the White House on Friday.
Trump accused Volodymyr Zelenskyy, disrespectful, ungrateful and an agitator “to play with the Second World War”, and he was told that he should leave the white house.
From the mineral agreement to the collapse
The visit of Zelenskyy should culminate when signing a much praised business agreement, in which Ukraine grants US access to its minerals as a repayment for the $ 10 billion in help and weapons to Ukraine.
US officials were convinced that Zelenskyy would sign the deal, but during the meeting in the Oval Office, he continued to urge the security guarantees that Ukraine was necessary so that there was a permanent peace.
Many Ukrainians saw it as a brave step and applauded Zelenskyy that he had campaigned for the country while sitting next to Trump, who expressed the wish to negotiate with the Russian President Vladimir Putin without Kyiv.
However, Zelenskyy’s critics saw it as an unfortunate misjudgment that the already damn relationship between Ukraine and the United States, the greatest military supporter, has further at risk-and his ability to continue to fight for the war or put an end to the war.
“Some people don’t like Zelenskyy, some people like Zelenskyy,” said Tkachuk when he asked CBC News how the soldiers reacted to the meeting in his unity.
“But it’s not about Zelenskyy … it’s about our country.”
Tkachuk allowed CBC News to publish his image and its complete names instead of only being identified by his call sign, since he is currently changing the roles in the military, and because he said he had to speak openly for Ukraine at this “very important moment”.
US military support
The soldier said he was not concerned about the possibility that we cut off the flow of auxiliary and weapons abruptly.
Three years ago, it was more frightening when Russian tanks and soldiers flocked across the border and the Ukraine fought without the demanding US weapons such as the Patriot rocket systems that the country now owned.
In view of the currently burdened relationship between Ukraine and the USA, he believes that Kyiv has to rely more on his other allies, including Europe and Canada.
After Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s heated meeting of the White House, Erica Johnson of the national, asks a former ambassador and a Russia expert to destroy what it means for Ukraine, Russia and the rest of Europe.
However, it is difficult to compensate for what the United States has contributed and can make a contribution militarily.
Since the full invasion of Ukraine in Russia began in February 2022, the USA says that it has “acquired” more than 180 billion US dollars USA for its Ukraine response.
This number is essential less than the 350 billion US dollars What the Trump government says that the USA spent it without enabling a breakdown.
When the heated collision between Zelenskyy, Trump and the Vice President JD Vance played in front of television cameras, Ukraine ambassador in the USA, Oksana Markarova, was seen how she used her head and held her face in her hands.
Oleksiy Gonchenko, an Odesa -based Ukrainian opposition MP, described the meeting in an interview on Saturday morning with BBC News a “catastrophe”.
“It’s bad for the United States, but it’s catastrophic for Ukraine, ”he said.
“We bleed every day. We are in a very difficult situation. We cannot lose our main military allies.”
He said the feelings between the men had clearly cooked over, and he wished that Zelenskyy had remained calm, remained “cold -blooded” and composed in front of journalists.
Russian reaction
On the social media platform XX, said Gonchenko, the only one who would have been satisfied with the result of yesterday’s meeting, was Putin.
Although the Kremlin has not yet given an official answer, Russian officials went to social media after the meeting.
Dmitry Medwedev, the deputy chair of the Russian security council, called Zelenskyy a “ungrateful pig” that “get a solid blow”.
The spokesman for the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Maria Zakharova, said it was a “miracle” that Trump and Vance prevent the Ukrainian president.
On Saturday morning, the Russian state media led the sharp meetings and called it a “public execution” and a “train accident”.
Lauren Bird from CBC collapses how Russian media and civil servants have made the fight against US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy a serious loss for Ukraine.
On the streets of Kyiv, the residents agreed that the meeting was a blow to Ukraine, but not everyone shared the same opinion about how Zelssskyy dealt.
While some thought that he should have been more diploma in his comments, and mostly people thought, Zelenskyy leaned.
“Trump finally understood that Zelenskyy is a president who will not only give up,” said Mila, an HR manager who spoke to Reuters.
On social media and in an interview with Fox News, Zelenskyy thanked the United States for support for Ukraine after leaving the White House and spoke of the need for a strong partnership.
But he refused to apologize.
“No, I respect the president and I respect the American people … I think we have to be very open and very honest, and I’m not sure if we have done something bad.”
Hope for Europe, Canada
Oleksandr Merezhko, chairman of the Ukrainian Parliament Committee Committee, told CBC News that he could not believe what was going on in the Oval Office, but was proud of Zelenskyy.
“I hope that things will get better somehow,” said Merzhko in an interview at the end of Friday.
“I hope that this common sense prevails and this wisdom is, because in the wake of Trump there are people who understand what is going on. “
But it will be difficult to make up for Trump again. A visit to Washington ended with Zelenskyy and his team said to have canceled lunch and asked about what would happen next.
Trump later told the reporters that he thought that the Ukrainian president had “overplayed his hand” and was not really interested in peace.
When Zelenskyy meets with the British Prime Minister Keir Starrer in London this weekend, the European leader and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau Merezhko know that the reception will be much warmer.
“We understand that it will be very difficult without support, military help from the United States,” he said.
“I assume we can rely on more support from our true friends.”
