Ukrainians in Canada react to Trump’s comments on the prospects for peace
Global News
Ukrainians who fled to Canada following Russia's invasion say they feel betrayed by U.S. President Donald Trump's comments on the prospects for peace in Ukraine.
Frustrating. Devastating. That’s how Tetiana Prykhodko reacted when she heard about U.S. President Donald Trump’s plans to end the war in Ukraine, following his telephone conversation this week with and Russian President Vladamir Putin.
During the election campaign, Trump promised to quickly end the war.
On Wednesday, Trump said he and Putin spent an hour on the phone and agreed to begin peace negotiations — and they promised to meet soon face to face.
At first non-committal about Ukraine being given a seat at the negotiating table, on Thursday Trump said Ukraine would be there. But officials with his administration have also said NATO membership will not be on the table and it is unrealistic for Ukraine to expect to given back all the land it has lost to Russia during the war — about a fifth of Ukrainian territory.
Prykhodko, one of tens of thousands of Ukrainians who fled to Canada following the start of the war, said all Ukrainians want peace, but she asks, “At what cost?”
“People are still being killed and are suffering — especially in the eastern parts of Ukraine,” said Prykhodko who was forced to flee her home town of Chernihiv, near the border with Russia and Belarus, on the day Putin ordered his army to invade.
“When all the talking on TV was about, ‘You have to pack,’ I didn’t actually take it seriously,” added Prykhodko. “After I heard the sirens, and after I saw smoke from my window (I realized) it’s not a joke and we decided to move out. I have a sister in the western part of Ukraine and she called me that day and said. ‘You are coming to our place,’ so that is what we did.”
“Lots of nearby villages suffered. Little girls being raped, people were killed, those who were imprisoned — awful things. I know really bad stories and it’s really hard to talk about them,” said Prykhodko.
The ceasefire's first phase is set to end in two weeks and the second phase has yet to be negotiated, though talks were meant to begin two weeks ago.
The proposal did not offer any specific security guarantees in return, according to one current and one former senior Ukrainian official familiar with the talks.
European leaders are reeling after Trump's decision to upend years of U.S. policy by holding talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in hopes of ending the Russia-Ukraine war.
Sources told Reuters that the United States had sent a document to European capitals asking questions that include possible future troop contributions.
It is the sixth swap since the ceasefire took effect on Jan. 19. Before Saturday, 21 hostages and over 730 Palestinian prisoners were freed.
The latest fighting is part of a major escalation of a conflict over power, identity and resources dating back to the 1990s Rwandan genocide.
The red and white has been a symbol of national pride for many decades, and in the wake of Donald Trump's anti-Canadian rhetoric, a sense of patriotism is sweeping the country.
U.S. Vice-President JD Vance warned governments that internal threats to democracy are a greater threats than external antagonists like China and Russia.
Alarmed that U.S. security priorities lie elsewhere, a group of European countries has been working on a plan to send troops into Ukraine to enforce any peace settlement.
"There is no talk about strikes on nuclear infrastructure, nuclear energy facilities," Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said, denying Russia had any responsibility.
Ukrainians who fled to Canada following Russia's invasion say they feel betrayed by U.S. President Donald Trump's comments on the prospects for peace in Ukraine.
NATO's secretary-general said as the U.S. proceeds on Ukraine peace talks with Russia, the alliance will work to ensure Moscow never tries to attack Ukraine again.
European officials took an exceptionally firm line in public towards Trump's peace overture, saying they and the Ukrainians must be included in any negotiations.