(WBBM NEWSRADIO) — Local Ukrainian American community leaders express mixed feelings as Trump administration negotiations to end the war between Russia and Ukraine begin. Some leaders are expressing optimism.
The optimism stems from a phone conversation between President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelinsky, which came after a lengthy discussion that the U.S. President had with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“The positive is he is talking to both Putin and Volodymyr Zelinsky,” said Mariya Dmytriv, the president of the Illinois Chapter of the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America.
The optimism of both parties in communication with President Trump still leaves room for doubt.
“It's basically feeling like Ukraine is being sold off to Russia for whatever deal is being done,” Dmytriv said.
She said that several national groups advocating for Ukraine, are now looking for ways to connect with advisors to the President, hoping to avoid a strictly transactional approach to ending the war.
“And those that potentially can influence the way he perceives this.”
Dmitriev tells us it's anticipated that thousands of Americans of Eastern European descent will make their way to Washington D.C. in less than two weeks to mark three years since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
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