Trump's attack on Zelensky revives a sense of national unity in Ukraine

KievIt seemed like all of Ukraine was holding its breath. While Volodymyr Zelensky and Donald Trump met with the press, Friday, at the White House. Millions of eyes were glued to television screens and YouTube, following every gesture, every word. document on mineral resources The memorandum - the fruit of weeks of negotiations and the reason for the meeting in the Oval Office - was not a final agreement, but a preliminary framework that was to give way to more detailed negotiations. In Kiev, the signing of the memorandum was interpreted as an opportunity to strengthen relations with the United States before the imminent face-to-face meeting with Vladimir Putin.

But what was supposed to be a carefully calculated diplomatic act turned into a head-on clash. The dispute between Trump and JD Vance and Zelensky provoked an immediate reaction. The expression of the Ukrainian ambassador in Washington, Oksana Markarova, said it all. The diagnosis was unanimous: "It's a disaster." A verdict that resonated equally in the offices of Brussels and in the halls of Kiev. Trump's sudden forgetfulness On Zelensky's "dictatorship" The Russian government had given rise to cautious optimism. A mirage that vanished in a matter of minutes under the spotlight.

No one – neither analysts, nor journalists, nor citizens – could anticipate the scope of what had happened. After the initial shock, there were attempts at reinterpretation. In Ukraine, war fatigue had fueled discontent with the government: the centralization of information and the growing difficulties for military mobilization were increasingly present in the public debate. International media had already picked up some of these criticisms, and the Russian propaganda machine had amplified and used them to its advantage. An analysis of Telegram channels by the Ukrainian media specializing in data journalism Texty revealed the extent to which these issues were being exploited by the Kremlin's narrative. The Trump administration also did not hesitate to incorporate them into its discourse.

Strengthening the figure of the president

But what began as a political attack on Zelensky ended up strengthening his position at home. After the first accusations of "authoritarian drift", even opposition figures, such as former President Petro Poroshenko, rejected the possibility of holding elections in a country at war. The episode in the White House, far from weakening Zelensky, has consolidated him. Suddenly, his critics have been pushed into the background, displaced by a feeling of national unity. "I didn't vote for Zelensky, but..." has become the most repeated phrase on the networks and in the streets by the opposition. And after the "but", the same idea: the dignity of the country. Trump's haughty and contemptuous attitude has not only been seen as a front for the president, but as a humiliation throughout Ukraine, in its three years of resistance and in the enormous sacrifices of the war.

"I didn't want to say anything, but I know some of my American friends voted for that orange clown and his couch potato friend. I hope they're satisfied with how our president and country are treated just because we didn't want to die quietly. All so that we would want them to die quietly. The looters and genocidaires who invaded us in 2014," wrote Darina Koryagina, a PhD student in history at the Central European University. As Trump ridiculed Zelensky, Shahed drones flew through the sky towards his hometown of Kharkiv.

"Trump and Vance tried to corner Zelensky. It was botched blackmail in broad daylight, in front of the cameras. The only thing he could do to avoid humiliation was exactly what he did," said Nina Kuryata, a former BBC Ukraine editor. In the same commentary, he warned that any agreement without security guarantees meant, in practice, the certainty of a prolonged war.

Optimistic messages

After the first wave of indignation and pessimism, more optimistic voices have begun to emerge. On social media and in discussion forums, calls to “stay in formation” and “not lose heart” have become recurrent. “They gave us three days of resistance, and we are still standing. We will hold out as long as necessary. We only have four more years until Trump's term ends,” says a soldier on the front line.

“It's not a catastrophe,” Volodymyr Dubovik, a senior researcher at the Center for European Policy Analysis, tells ARA. “If the meeting had gone differently, perhaps an agreement would have been signed, but it was a pact that only benefited Trump,” he says. In his opinion, the US president tried to convey the message that Ukraine is a minor problem and that everything could be resolved directly with Russia. "It was an attempt to exert pressure from both sides. On the one hand, the Russian bombs; on the other, the White House. But Zelensky, who represents the interests of the Ukrainian people, did not give in," Dubovik explains.

Sergey Sidorenko, director of the Ukrainian National Security Council, also remains optimistic.European Pravda, a Ukrainian daily, notes that positive signals are also coming from Washington. In the column, it rejects the idea that the scene was completely orchestrated and argues that it was rather a verbal confrontation that got out of hand. Despite Trump's rhetoric, the White House has not completely closed the door on Ukraine.

The only hope, Europe

Some voices in Kiev insist that the key is still in American public opinion, which in democracies weighs more than political speeches. However, Dubovik is sceptical. In his opinion, Trump has the state apparatus of power and the ability to exert pressure within the country. The only hope for Ukraine remains Europe. "Europe will no longer be able to convince Trump with speeches. Therefore, the only way to change their minds is to ensure that Europe's financial and military support for Kiev does not stop," he says.

The big question in Ukraine remains: "What now?" But the most common answer is a laconic "we don't know." Can Zelensky win this game, which he denies he is playing by raising the stakes?

While Moscow is starting to drink champagne, in Kiev the military commanders are thinking of a "plan B." Most Ukrainians have learned not to blindly trust their allies, but to trust their soldiers. The armed forces are more than ever the true shield of Kiev and Europe. The conversation in the trenches is not about diplomatic agreements or symbolic gestures, but about concrete solutions: the possibility of developing alternatives to the Starlink system or increasing the production of drones. In the ongoing war, Ukraine knows that it can only rely on itself.