For Ukrainian Survivors of Putin’s War, Donald Trump is Yet Another Threat to Their Lives

On the first Saturday of Ukraine’s fourth year resisting Russia’s full-scale war of aggression, clergy from the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church led a procession of Bucha residents along the length of Yablunska Street, the site of some of the earliest atrocities of the war. With more than a hundred people in tow, the somber procession braved the icy wind, stopping at 14 locations where civilians had been executed by occupying Russian soldiers to offer prayers and read the names of the victims.

“We’re here to remember the most horrible morning that has ever happened in Bucha,” one member of the clergy told the crowd. “There are some people pretending that this is not happening, and this is why we do this; they need to see it.”

Less than 24 hours earlier, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had been on the other side of the world, summoned to Washington, D.C., to sign a controversial deal with President Trump that would determine the future of almost all of Ukraine’s natural resources. However, over the course of roughly ten minutes, in a remarkable display of ego-driven hostility toward the embattled Ukrainian leader, Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance launched a barrage of condescending chastisement after Zelensky suggested the need for external security guarantees in diplomatic efforts to negotiate a ceasefire with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

For Bucha survivor Vira Katanenko, a 65-year-old retired math teacher and participant in the sorrowful procession, the spectacle of Trump and Vance attacking Zelensky for questioning Vance—someone known for telling Sieg-Heiling Steve Bannon that he doesn’t “really care what happens to Ukraine one way or another”—was confirmation that the United States under Trump is not to be relied on. 

“I distinguish between Trump, his team, and the American people. Trump’s team—they have their own philosophy. They think Putin is a good guy, and, well, you know, they are both ‘good guys’,” she explained sarcastically.

“Everyone I know was completely outraged by yesterday’s conversation.”

Friday’s meeting was the culmination of weeks of pressure by the Trump administration to force Ukraine to surrender control over its natural resources. Over the last month, Trump began publicly calling for repayment for military assistance provided to Ukraine under the Biden administration, alternately demanding $500 billion or half of Ukraine’s mineral wealth. The $500 billion figure is hundreds of billions of dollars more than what the U.S. government itself has tallied as the total amount allocated for aid to Ukraine.

According to the government’s own interagency oversight group, Congress has allocated $183 billion for Ukraine since the 2022 invasion. Of this, $65.9 billion worth of military assistance was transferred to Ukraine, while $58 billion was actually spent domestically on U.S. defense contracts. 

The deal Zelensky was expected to sign Friday contained no explicit security guarantees from the United States should Russia choose to break a hypothetical ceasefire— a primary concern for the Ukrainian government and a population that has endured extreme violence at the hands of Russian invaders in places like Bucha and across the country, where numerous war crimes have been documented.

From what is known, the deal called for the creation of a jointly managed fund overseen by the governments of Ukraine and the United States. This would be financed by 50% of “all revenues earned from the future monetization of all relevant Ukrainian Government-owned natural resource assets (whether owned directly or indirectly by the Ukrainian Government).” It would include mineral deposits, hydrocarbons, oil, natural gas, related infrastructure such as natural gas terminals and ports, as well as “other extractable materials.”

The fund’s proceeds would then be allegedly used for reconstruction projects within Ukraine. However, the agreement made no specific mention of continued US military support for Ukraine’s ongoing defense. 

In the prior week, U.S. Speaker of the House of Representatives Mike Johnson stated there is “no appetite” for more Ukraine funding within the Republican-controlled Congress, while Trump called Zelensky a dictator for not having elections, despite the fact that Ukraine’s constitution forbids elections during martial law. During the early morning hours of February 23, Russia launched the largest drone attack of the war, and three days later killed the journalist Tetiana Kulyk and her husband in a drone attack on their home, demonstrating the continued threat Russia poses to Ukraine. 

Once Friday’s meeting began, it did not take long for things to go awry. In response to questions from the press, at one point Trump cited Zelensky’s natural dislike for the Russian leader as an obstacle to him “making a deal.” 

“You see the hatred he’s got for Putin, that makes it very tough for me to make a deal with that kind of hate,” Trump remarked, “but I can tell you the other side isn’t exactly in love with, you know, him either..” A look of visible shock washed over Zelensky’s face upon hearing Trump dismiss Ukrainian agency in the negotiation process and equate the aggressor with its victim.

Vance then followed this with another round of distortion. “For four years, the United States of America, we had a president who stood up at press conferences and talked tough about Vladimir Putin — and then Putin invaded Ukraine and destroyed a significant chunk of the country. The path to peace and the path to prosperity is, maybe, engaging in diplomacy.” 

Russia invaded Ukraine 13 months after Biden took office, and early attempts to negotiate a resolution in the spring of 2022 failed over key aspects of Ukraine’s current and future security, with Russia reportedly insisting on a militarily vulnerable Ukraine. By the autumn of 2022, Russia had illegally annexed the four Ukrainian oblasts of Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson, writing them into its constitution as part of the Russian Federation, despite only having solid military control over Luhansk Oblast’s territory. 

Since then, the Russian government has repeatedly insisted that Ukraine acknowledge these territories and their populations as Russian as a prerequisite to any negotiations. In the meantime, hundreds of villages, towns, and cities have been destroyed, large swathes of the environment severely damaged, and at least 12,300 civilians have been killed. 

Civilian casualties are believed to be undercounted, as investigators cannot work in occupied territory, while the military does not release consistent casualty information either. A recent Human Rights Watch report estimates that at least an additional 8,000 civilians died during the Russian siege of Mariupol. 

Additionally, at least 46,000 Ukrainian soldiers have died attempting to stop further Russian advances westward, with hundreds of thousands wounded. 

Among the dead is Katanenko’s only son, Andriiy, who was killed on February 20th, 2024 serving with the 59th Brigade on the Avdiivka front. Senior lieutenant Katanenko was a civilian until July 2023, and worked as a sales manager at a lumber company. He was 39-years-old and a father of two children. His mother carried his portrait with her along Saturday’s procession. “Andriiy is always with me,” she said. 

During the battle of Avdiivka, Ukrainian forces were undermined by shortages of artillery and other critical weapons that were supplied by Western military aid. From October 2023 to April 2024, U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican allied with Trump, delayed a vote on further US military assistance to Ukraine. 

Vance’s intentional omission of Russia’s responsibility for the continuation of the war — the most obvious way the war could end is for the Russian army to just go home — prompted Zelensky to challenge the sincerity of his statement on diplomacy.

“What kind of diplomacy, JD, you are speaking about? What do you mean?,” he asked, after first explaining to Trump that the war in Ukraine’s east started in 2014, not 2015 as Trump asserted. He then continued to explain that a ceasefire agreement had been signed with Putin before in 2019, and was broken, referring to a renewed attempt at the time to implement the Minsk 2 agreement. 

That ceasefire went into effect July 27, 2020 and was broken by Russian-backed separatists forces. Further attempts to negotiate a ceasefire with Russia were rejected, and in February 2022, Putin famously chose to launch a massive invasion of Ukraine, initiating the current war. 

Vance quickly responded with self-righteous admonishment. 

“I’m talking about the kind of diplomacy that’s going to end the destruction of your country. Mr. President, with respect, I think it’s disrespectful for you to come into the Oval Office to try to litigate this in front of the American media. Right now, you guys are going around and forcing conscripts to the front lines because you have manpower problems. You should be thanking the president for trying to bring an end to this conflict.”

Vance’s insistence that Zelensky should grovel to Trump, something Vance himself has perfected over the years on his rise from Trump critic to toady, while omitting that his own National Security Advisor Mike Waltz has publicly called for the Ukrainian government to lower the age of conscription from 25 to 18, which Zelensky has resisted since the Biden administration, has demonstrated for many the true colors of Trump and Vance, leading to a boost in Zelensky’s popularity in Ukraine. 

“I’m with Zelensky 100% on this,” explained Katanenko. “After three years of war, after total Russian lies, Trump talks about key cards in Zelensky’s hands. But what are your key cards, Trump? Being neutral to the Russian aggressor and disrespecting the Ukrainian people?”   

“Where are Trump’s words to Putin? Because what I didn’t hear is ‘Putin, immediately withdraw Russian troops from blood-soaked Ukraine.”

The meeting devolved into Trump and Vance shouting down Zelensky, with Vance at one point absurdly asking Zelensky if he had ever said “thank you” for US support, despite Zelensky’s well documented record of showing gratitude for the aid that both Vance and Trump have spent the war opposing.

For Katanenko, who has experienced the brutality and sorrow of war more intimately than Trump and Vance ever will, the experience was jarring, and only emphasized the continued danger Ukraine finds itself in. As if to reinforce that point, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told Russian state television that the Trump administration’s actions “largely coincides with our vision.”

In the streets of Bucha, where the damage from the Russian invasion remains visible despite substantial reconstruction efforts, the memories of what happened here in March 2022 deeply inform anxieties over what could happen if Ukraine loses the material support that has helped fend off Russian aggression.

“They are not talking about peace, but against peaceful lands they are making wicked plans,” said Katanenko. “Let them and all the Trumpists come and spend a few days in Kharkiv, Kherson, Donetsk, or Zaporizhzhia region. Let them feel, hear, and see how Putin wants peace.”

The following Monday, 3 March , the Trump administration announced a pause in all Ukrainian military aid.