Could this be the year, as President-elect Donald J. Trump has promised, that Russia’s war with Ukraine will end?
The possibility of peace brings “tears to my eyes,” said Valeria, 30, an English teacher from eastern Ukraine.
As Trump prepares to return to the White House on Monday, he promises peace in Ukraine but publicly offers no strategy for how to achieve it, other than his stated desire to meet with Russian President Vladimir V. Putin. So Ukrainians can only imagine what the next few months will bring.
No one, Valeria said, wants peace more than the Ukrainians. But having suffered so many losses, with hundreds of thousands dead and wounded, Ukrainians will not accept peace at any price, he said. She asked that her last name not be used out of fear for the safety of her father, who still lives under Russian occupation.
“Europe and America must remember that any ceasefire or negotiation will only be legitimate if it respects the sacrifices made by Ukrainians and ensures a just, secure and independent future for Ukraine,” he said.
Since Trump won reelection in November, The New York Times has spoken to dozens of Ukrainians — soldiers on the front lines, villagers forced to flee their homes and people in cities far from the battlefield but subject to rocket bombardment — about their hopes and fears before his inauguration.
Many people are feeling frustrated, embittered by what some see as an overly cautious approach by the Biden administration, and after enduring months of delays in receiving U.S. military assistance last year after it was blocked in Congress. The war still rages, with Ukraine facing a powerful adversary deeply dependent on American military support.
The Trump administration, many agree, will bring about change. But many fear the change will not be positive, especially if military aid is withheld.
“Some say this is the end for Ukraine,” said Anna, 29, an artist who asked that her last name not be used for fear that Russians would harass her online. “But because I consider him an unstable person,” she said of Trump, “I can’t say that for sure.”
“I hope for justice and that Russia faces the consequences of everything it has done,” he added.
On the front lines, soldiers often say they are not only defending their home, but also shielding the rest of Europe from the revanchist Russian regime.
Major Yaroslav Galas, 53, who serves in the 128th Transcarpathian Mountain Assault Brigade, said he believed Trump’s desire to be seen as a winner would ultimately secure him Ukraine’s support.
“Trump understands that Russia’s victory and Ukraine’s defeat are the United States’ defeat and his personal defeat as president,” he said. “This is how the world would see it.”
Andrii, 44, a military intelligence officer fighting in Russia’s Kursk region, said every Ukrainian has experienced so much horror that the end of the war could not come soon enough.
“The war is terrifying and must end,” he said, asking that his last name not be used according to military protocol for soldiers interviewed at the front. “Maybe Trump will do something about it.”
But if Trump rejects military support as a way to pressure Kiev to accept a bad deal, he said, it may not work out as he expects.
“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 raided in February 2022. He hid his four children, he said, grabbed a gun and has hardly put it down since.
“We organized ourselves and started pushing them back,” he said. “We chased them out of the city, set up roadblocks and they couldn’t get through. There was no government, just regular people organizing and doing it.”
Although internal political strife and social tensions in Ukraine have increased since the start of the war, he believes that in the event of a catastrophic collapse of the front, people would come together again.
This month, at a cemetery on the outskirts of Sumy, rows and rows of blue and gold Ukrainian flags fluttered in the cold wind.
Kateryna Zakharuk, 25, sat next to her husband Ivan’s grave.
When their village was occupied by Russian forces in the early days of the war, he joined friends to fight behind enemy lines, burning Russian ammunition depots and even taking a prisoner, he said.
The Russians were pushed back across the border and Ivan joined the army. He was killed 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 gravestone. “My relative is buried there. A boy from my village is buried right there. There are so many familiar people here.”
He has seen how Russian forces have devastated entire cities, leaving only ash, and fears that Sumy could suffer the same fate without American support.
“Not only are human lives ruined,” he said, “but all memories are destroyed.”
Valeria, the English teacher, said her hometown had already been devastated. His family is originally from Kreminna in eastern Ukraine, which has been occupied by Russian forces since the start of the war.
His father is still there; she hasn’t seen him for years.
“I don’t know if I’ll ever see him again,” she said. “As cynical as it sounds, even though he is alive, part of me has already said goodbye to him.”
He said he didn’t know what Trump would do, but hoped Ukraine would “have the main say in such serious decisions as our future, especially on issues of war and peace.”
“Unfortunately,” he said, “there is a growing feeling that the fate of Ukrainian citizens is often discussed without our participation.”
Liubov Sholudko AND Anna Lukinova contributed to the reporting.