Trump's hand to Putin sparks fear, mistrust in frontline Ukraine

Trump's hand to Putin sparks fear, mistrust in frontline Ukraine

Ukrainians in the 24th Mechanized Brigade firing towards Russian positions near Chasiv Yar in the Donetsk region

In eastern Ukraine, the battleground of ferocious fighting against Russian troops, the spectre of US President Donald Trump forcing a halt to the war has injected new worries among exhausted and outgunned Ukrainian servicemen.

Trump has raised fears that the United States, Kyiv's most vital political and military backer, will abandon Ukraine in its fight and hand over easy concessions to Russian leader Vladimir Putin after years of costly fighting.

An acting battalion commander, who identified himself as Artem, said an end to US military support would be "catastrophic" for Ukrainian efforts to hold Russia back.

"We are already paying a high price and it will be even higher. I don't even know how it can be higher," the 42-year-old told AFP at a training ground in the Donetsk region on Thursday.

"I have lost many friends during this time, people I served with. I don't want to lose more people, brothers and sisters in arms," he said.

In the first presidential contact between Moscow and Washington in three years, Trump said Wednesday that he and Putin had agreed to "immediately" kick off talks.

Just hours earlier, his defence chief told European leaders that talks were unlikely to see Kyiv join NATO or see Ukraine regain control of territory within internationally recognised borders.

- 'What can we do?' -

Trump also appears to have made future US support for Ukraine conditional on gaining access to its natural resources.

Sava, a 41-year-old former prisoner who had opted to fight instead of serving out his sentence, said he did not trust Trump but would welcome a halt to the fighting, even if it meant ceding territory. 

"They are politicians. We are just ordinary people. What can we do? We just fight," said the servicemen, who like Artem was fighting in the 93rd Brigade.

Fellow soldier Oleksandr told AFP there would be "chaos" if Ukraine gave away its territory.

"This is our land. How can we give it to someone just because they took it?"

In Kyiv, public figures voiced concern over the Trump-Putin call and the possibility of weakening support from Washington.

Tymofiy Mylovanov, president of the Kyiv School of Economics, said Ukraine had been unwilling to accept that US military and political backing could dwindle. 

"We have always lived in this reality. But we didn't want to admit it," he said.

Andriy Kovalenko, an official responsible for countering disinformation, said European countries should have acted more decisively and sooner to safeguard Ukraine's security.

"But no. It's expensive, we don't want to think about the war. Now we need quick decisions from Europe," he wrote on social media.

- 'Betrayal' -

Daria Zarivna, an advisor to the Ukrainian presidency's chief of staff, acknowledged that Trump's calls with Putin and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky might usher in a new chapter of the war.

"We have a difficult process ahead of us in the fight for Ukraine, and we will go through it in unity," she said.

In central Kyiv, Ukrainians interviewed by AFP said they wanted an end to the war and voiced hope that Trump would involve Ukraine and take Kyiv's negotiating points to heart.

"How can you negotiate without Ukraine? Only with Ukraine," said Mykola, a 79-year-old retired railway worker who was displaced by fighting from eastern Ukraine.

Galyna, a 61-year-old pensioner, was matter-of-fact about the prospect of Ukrainian regaining control of its internationally recognised borders from Russia -- a priority for Kyiv in negotiations that Washington has poured cold water over.

"Well, if Ukraine gets some help, it will return them. And if it doesn't get any help, then it won't return these borders," she told AFP.

Sofia, an 18-year-old student, said she worried that Trump would repeat a pattern of making poor decisions, of which entering into talks with Putin was "probably one of them".

"To negotiate with a dictator and the leader of a country that is literally destroying us from within, and to try to reach some kind of agreement is simply betrayal for us," she said.

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