Opinion

David Ignatius

May 10, 2025

KYIV — It was Victory Day here on Thursday, with Ukrainians celebrating their country’s role in defeating the Nazis 80 years ago. But for the long line of people waiting to place red roses beside photos of Ukrainian soldiers who have died over the past decade fighting Russia, there is only war.

The scene in St. Michael’s Square, under the gold-domed cathedral, puts a lump in your throat. Nearby, there are hundreds, perhaps thousands, of framed photographs clustered in a forest of remembrance. Still more line the wall around the cathedral as far as the eyes can see. I’m sure Russia mourns its lost soldiers, too. They shouldn’t have invaded.

Ukrainians know that peace talk is in the air. President Donald Trump is pressing for a ceasefire, and nearly everyone I met here hopes he succeeds. But hope is not a strategy, as they say. Many officials told me bluntly that they expect Russian President Vladimir Putin to keep attacking — and the brutal conflict to go on.

“The war will continue until Putin accepts that Ukraine has a right to exist,” said former foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba. Current debate about negotiations and the reality of war on the ground, he added, “are as far apart as Earth and Mars.” He was speaking to a small group from the Atlantic Council that I joined this week.

Despite the terrible burden of war, the mood seems more confident than when I last visited in September, when I wrote that the country was “bleeding out.” The worst has happened: Trump has moved away from Kyiv and toward Moscow. But the front has stabilized, resolve has hardened, and Europe has stepped up with new support.

“We are bruised, but we are not broken. We are tired, but we are not exhausted,” Arseniy Yatsenyuk, a former Ukrainian prime minister, said in his opening remarks at the Kyiv Security Forum, where I was one of the speakers.

Even if Trump cuts off U.S. military and intelligence assistance, Ukrainian officials say they will keep fighting. A senior official explained: “We are not losing. Russia is not winning. We are not under the threat of total collapse.”

A demonstration of Ukrainians’ cool nerves came at a dinner with parliamentarians Tuesday night. We were eating at a fancy Crimean Tatar restaurant when the air-raid sirens went off. “Ballistic threat. Take immediate cover,” a security alert said. The Ukrainians continued eating the dumplings, stuffed grape leaves and savory crepes. “UAV [unmanned aerial vehicle] threat. Take immediate cover,” a second alert blared a minute later. The waiters had brought platters of roast duck and dorade with a white cream sauce. They were delicious.

The warnings continued, but everyone kept eating. A ballistic missile later hit a neighborhood a few miles away, security reports said. Drone attacks continued through much of the night.

“You don’t have the right to be tired,” a member of parliament named Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze admonished the Americans around the table. “We need your weapons. We need your help. We are not going to give up. That’s not an option.”

Ukrainian officials are realistic about the Russian military threat. Defense officials say the Russians don’t have a personnel or morale problem. Russian drone production has increased dramatically over the past year; attacks by small drones at the front are vastly greater; so are strikes by big, Iranian-designed Shahed drones.

Several top officials made the same assessment: Putin thinks he’s winning. He has no reason to stop the war unless Trump imposes sanctions that sharply increase the price Russia pays for continuing the fight.

As Ukrainians struggled with these terrible dilemmas, current U.S. military and political officials were absent from the Kyiv forum. A NATO panel had generals and admirals from Germany, Canada, the Netherlands and Latvia. But no one from the United States. That shocked me, frankly.

Ukrainian officials are pleased that Trump and others in his administration have begun criticizing Russia for its refusal to make compromises and that Trump has talked of imposing sanctions if Putin doesn’t soften his position. Officials said they’re ready to explore a compromise — a two-track approach that imposes a ceasefire on all fronts, as Kyiv wants — and also a discussion of long-term “root” problems, as Moscow demands.

“In six weeks, we will understand if we are going for another round of war, with or without the U.S., or to a peace scenario,” one of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s political advisers told our group.

The long-term solution for Ukraine, argued the Zelensky adviser and another top official, is for Ukraine to “Israelize” its defense strategy: “every man and woman with a gun,” as the political adviser put it. But that could take a decade, and Ukraine will need American or European help until then.

What’s lost in the Trump administration’s peace attempt is this war’s moral dimension. Ukraine is defending itself against an unprovoked full-scale invasion. “The underlying question is whether good will triumph over evil,” argued Rob Bauer, a Dutch admiral who until January served as head of NATO’s Military Committee.

“You can’t be neutral in this war. It’s a kind of complicity,” Yatsenyuk told the forum. But that space in the middle is where Trump has been headed, at least until recently. That’s a mistake — morally as well as strategically.

Trump needs to understand that American evenhandedness won’t work. Rather than ending the war, it will prolong it. To get Putin to “yes,” Trump must say “no” to his demands. That’s the paradox that was evident here on Victory Day.

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Comment from :

Ed Haskell

Trump’s betrayal of Ukraine is repulsive and unforgivable. His behavior, along with the unctous Vance, in the Oval Office during their meeting with Zelensky was a global embarrassment. 

The Russians are barbarians. The recently sent a missile into a playground, deliberately, and killed 9 children. Nine. The craven Trump never said an word about this atrocity. He was playing golf. 

It is equally embarrassing that no Americans were at this conference because Trump, the Appeaser of Putin, supports the Russians. God Bless the brave Ukrainians.

IngolfDK

The present US approach to the war is catastrophic in several ways.

Above all it prolongs the war and damages Ukraine’s position. 

In addition, it weakens the Western alliance to a point where we in Europe speculate if US is still our ally. 

Thirdly it damages US itself, which is evident to everybody outside MAGA echo chamber. The gross incompetence demonstrated by Trump, his golf buddy, Vance, and Hegseth weakens US in every way. These people don’t value trust, and they probably trust noone. The result is a dysfunctional superpower losing strength, credit, and influence.

This is not the right time to step down as the leader of the free world, but at the same time US is incapable of keeping that position.

There are small signs that Trump’s distorted view may be changing to a better position, but there is a long way to go, before the free world cooperates as a unit to support Ukraine. 

Sane Left-Of-Center Moderate

Thank you Mr. Ignatius for going to Ukraine and for filing this report from Ukraine. I have been to Ukraine twice since the war began, and, frankly, in Kyiv, and in the smaller city of Kropyvnytskyi (where I have been), it is difficult to see physical evidence of the war, though the frequent air alerts are reminders that the war is real.

I think it is important for Americans to know that while Ukraine’s front line cities have suffered tremendous damage, with entire cities destroyed, the vast majority of Ukraine behind Russian artillery range is more or less intact, with Ukrainians going to work and to school and even out to eat and to the ballet and the symphony. And, moreover, Ukraine has gotten agile and adept at restoring electricity very quickly when Russia attacks energy infrastructure. Why do I think this is important? Because I don’t want people to be under the impression that Ukraine is destroyed and desperate and cold and dark and that their only hope is to wave the white flag.

What I would really like to see is a high profile news personality, like one of the network evening news anchors, or one of the morning show anchors, spend a week reporting from Ukraine.

L. Braverman NYC

From the NYTimes:

“Friday marks another grim milestone for Ukraine — the 120th day since the last new aid package from the United States was announced on Jan. 8, outstripping the length of Speaker Johnson’s devastating hold.

At the Pentagon there is silence. In contrast, during the Biden administration there were press briefings just days or weeks apart announcing arms shipments worth hundreds of millions or even billions of dollars each.

After Pete Hegseth became defense secretary in late January, his office promised to be “the most transparent Department of Defense in history,” but there has been only one Pentagon briefing for reporters during the Trump administration’s first 100 days.

There was no mention of additional assistance for Ukraine at the briefing, and only vague support for a cease-fire in Ukraine.

Mr. Hegseth’s office did not reply when asked whether he intended to spend the remaining $3.85 billion that Congress has authorized for additional withdrawals from the Defense Department’s stockpiles for Kyiv.

Ukraine’s bond with the United States, which once seemed unbreakable, appears to have been shelved.”

Anonymous NYC

It’s easy to blame Trump for inadequately supporting the Ukraine. But the blame lies more with Biden. He gave sufficient military support to allow Ukraine to keep fighting. But he never gave enough support for Ukraine to beat Russia. Biden cynically used the Ukraine to degrade Russia’s military capabilities. At least Trump is straightforward in his approach to the conflict.

BillK51

The true story of the war is rarely faced. It is not a tale of David and Goliath, where David resisted Goliath with all his strength. No, the young men of the Ukraine did not run to volunteer to fight for their country against an invading army. 

“The BBC recently reported that 650,000 Ukrainian men of fighting age have fled the country in the past two years, some with false exemption papers allowing them to exit despite a ban on fighting-age men leaving the country. 

“Last year nearly 1,300 draft-dodgers found themselves before the courts, but officials acknowledge this is a small fraction of those avoiding enlistment.”  Politico25 March 2024

Correspondents from the Post spent two weeks at the front in last spring and heard this: The Ukrainian military is facing a critical shortage of infantry, leading to exhaustion and diminished morale on the front line. In interviews, nearly a dozen soldiers and commanders told The Washington Post that personnel deficits were their most critical demand. Oleksandr, a battalion commander, said the companies in his unit on average are staffed at about 35 percent of what they should be. “The basis of everything is the lack of people,” Oleksandr said. 

Many young Ukrainians don’t share with Patrick Henry “Give me liberty or give me death.”

Two months into thread, the secret negotiations between Russia and Ukraine almost produced a ceasefire. The Ukrainian negotiators thought they had a deal they could live with: Russia fully recognized Ukrainian sovereignty and its right to join the European Union. Ukraine had to agree to be a neutral buffer state with enforcement of peace from the members of the U.N. Security Counsel. Zelensky chose to fight to get Russia out of all Ukraine. How did that work out? Especially for the beleaguered soldiers still manning the front. End this dangerous war. Russia still has the option of striking the population centers. Ukraine lacks sufficient surface-to-air missiles to protect its cities.

Richardatlarge

If Ukraine is to “Israelize” its defense strategy, it needs to engage in a never ending series of targeted assassinations, in Russia or wherever 

Take the gloves off.

A filthy kremtroll:

Trevor Sutherland

Literally all the major opposition voices, Prof. Sachs, Col. MacGregor, etc. believe Zelensky is, at this point, basically a dictator leading his people to ruin. Part of it is the fanatics behind him—the ultranationalists who are his base of support. The other part is the EU and Ursula Von Der Leyen with her “Project 2030” telling Zelensky if he can just hang on for five more years the EU will have rearmed enough to help him beat Russia. He, his stupid American liberal supporters, and the EU are all insane. Period. Trump needs to walk away from this toxic stew asap.

D Wagner

Replying to Trevor Sutherland
So, I’m wondering how you would react if Mexico invaded the US, claimed Texas, and the rest of the world said, no problem, let Mexico have the land they’ve invaded. I mean, that land did once belong to them. And please, “liberal scum”? I think you have more class than that – we are all Americans.

Ken Albertsen

Replying to Trevor Sutherland

Trevor, you’re flat wrong. Ukraine is winning. Putin is on the ropes. Ukraine is making much of their own weaponry and it’s quite effective. Ukraine will win, even if fat Uncle Sam offers no more assistance. European leaders and Z are the adults. Trump and Vance are the idiot oafs, and should go to the back benches and shut up.

Dutchtheo

Replying to Trevor Sutherland

The war is not going to plan, Ivan, your propaganda will not change that. Putin is ruining your own country.

Michael Andrew Fritz

Fortunately for the free world, the Europeans recognize the existential necessity of defeating Putin’s army decisively on the Ukrainian battlefield, and that anything less would encourage Putin’s tyrannical expansionist ambitions and guarantee long-term instability. This war is about freedom. That Trump has no appreciation of the significance of that simple fact renders his opinions and proposals absurd and irrelevant. With or without U.S. support, the free nations of Europe, with their Canadian, Australian and New Zealand allies, and perhaps others from Asia and Latin America, will save freedom in Ukraine and toss Putin onto the trash heap of History where he and his oligarchs belong.