‘Make Russia Small Again’: Ukraine on edge as Trump heads to White House
Right after setting foot in the cafeteria named after Donald Trump in the Ukrainian capital, visitors see the most anti-Russian paraphrase of the United States president-elect’s best-known war cry.
Inspired by Trump’s “Make America Great Again” motto, an illuminated “Make Russia Small Again” sign shines above a display of cakes and doughnuts.
Most Ukrainians would love to see their arch-enemy reduced to its centuries-old size of a tiny principality around Moscow.
But their views on Trump’s ability to belittle Russia, stop or freeze the war and pave the way for Kyiv’s membership in NATO and the European Union vary from rosy optimism to gloomy naysaying.
The “Trump” cafeteria’s manager believes that his idol’s “uncompromising” political tactics and business acumen will help end the war promptly.
“Considering his style on the political arena and his way of conducting business, I think he’ll be quite careful, but will make brave steps to settle this crisis,” Roman Kravtsov, a bearded 27-year-old, told Al Jazeera.
‘There isn’t more ammunition’
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that he expects “strong” security guarantees from Trump ahead of any peace deal.
“We want to end [the war] with a just peace, and for that, we need to be certain that Russia won’t return again with a war against Ukraine. We need strong security guarantees,” he said on Wednesday.
However, to some Ukrainian servicemen on the war’s front lines, Trump epitomises the collective West’s perennial failure to restrain Russia.
In 2014, Moscow annexed Crimea and backed separatist forces – but Western sanctions did not see Russian President Vladimir Putin back down.
In 2022, when the full-scale invasion of Ukraine began, the West pledged to supply Kyiv with missiles, tanks, artillery, ammunition and fighter jets.
But the delivery of almost every item was delayed, resulting in lost opportunities to regain occupied territory and countless casualties, according to Ukrainian troops and observers.
Only a handful of F-16 fighter jets landed in Ukraine last summer after years of promises and deliberations.
“We needed the planes when we counterattacked [in early 2023], when we had the manpower, when we had the ammo,” a Ukrainian serviceman who remains on the front line despite severe wounds, told Al Jazeera.
