Could this be the year, as President-elect Donald J. Trump has promised, when Russia’s war against Ukraine is brought to an end?
The possibility of peace brings “tears to my eyes,” said Valeria, 30, an English teacher from eastern Ukraine.
As Mr. Trump prepares to return to the White House on Monday, he is promising peace in Ukraine, but publicly offering no strategy for how to achieve it — aside from his stated desire to meet with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia. So Ukrainians can only guess at what the coming months will bring.
No one, Valeria said, wants peace more than Ukrainians. But having suffered so much loss, with hundreds of thousands killed and injured, Ukrainians will not accept peace at any price, she said. She asked that her family name not be used out of fear for the safety of her father, who is still living under Russian occupation.
“Europe and America must remember that any cease-fire or negotiations will only be legitimate if they respect the sacrifices made by Ukrainians and ensure a just, secure and independent future for Ukraine,” she said.
Since Mr. Trump won re-election in November, The New York Times has spoken with dozens of Ukrainians — soldiers at the front, villagers forced to flee their homes and people in cities far removed from the battlefield but subject to missile bombardments — about their hopes and fears before his inauguration.
Many people feel frustrated — embittered by what some view as an overly cautious approach by the Biden administration, and having endured months of delays in receiving American military assistance last year after it was held up in Congress. The war is still raging, with Ukraine facing a powerful opponent and deeply dependent on American military support.
The Trump administration, most agree, will bring change. But many worry that the change will not be good, particularly if military aid is withheld.
“Some say this is the end for Ukraine,” said Anna, 29, an artist who asked not to use her surname out of concern that Russians would harass her online. “But since I consider him an unstable person,” she said of Mr. Trump, “I can’t say for sure.”
“I hold out hope for justice and that Russia will face consequences for everything it has done,” she added.
On the front lines, soldiers often say they are not only defending their home but standing as a shield protecting the rest of Europe from a revanchist Russian regime.
Maj. Yaroslav Galas, 53, who serves in the 128th Transcarpathian Mountain Assault Brigade, said he thought Mr. Trump’s desire to be seen as a winner would ultimately ensure he backs Ukraine.
“Trump understands that the victory of Russia and the defeat of Ukraine is the defeat of the United States and his personal defeat as president,” he said. “This is how the world would see it.”
Andrii, 44, a military intelligence officer fighting in the Kursk region of Russia, said every Ukrainian had experienced so much horror that the end of the war could not come soon enough.
“War is terrifying, and it needs to end,” he said, asking that his surname not be used in accordance with military protocol for soldiers interviewed at the front. “Maybe Trump will do something about it.”
But if Mr. Trump withholds military support as a way to pressure Kyiv into accepting a bad deal, he said, it may not work out the way he expects.
“It will be bad,” he said. “It will turn into a guerrilla war.”
“We won’t give up,” he said. “Many good people will die.”
Andrii was a local businessman in the border city of Sumy when the Russians stormed across in February 2022. He hid his four children, he said, picked up a gun and has barely put it down since.
“We organized ourselves and started fighting them off,” he said. “We pushed them out of the city, set up checkpoints, and they didn’t get through. There was no government, just regular people organizing and doing it.”
While political infighting and social tension within Ukraine have grown since the beginning of the war, he believes people would rally together again in the event of a catastrophic collapse of the front.
In a cemetery on the outskirts of Sumy this month, row upon row of blue and gold Ukrainian flags fluttered in a cold wind.
Kateryna Zakharuk, 25, sat by the grave of her husband, Ivan.
When their village was occupied by Russian forces in the opening days of the war, he banded together with friends to fight behind enemy lines, burning Russian ammunition depots and even capturing a prisoner, she said.
The Russians were driven back across the border, and Ivan joined the army. He was killed on Feb. 17, 2024.
Ms. Zakharuk visits his grave every week, she said.
“My friend’s brother, who was also Ivan’s friend, is buried there,” she said, pointing to the headstone. “My relative is buried over there. A boy from my village is buried right there. There are so many familiar people here.”
She has seen how Russian forces have laid waste to entire cities, leaving nothing but ashes, and worries that Sumy could suffer the same fate without American support.
“Not only are human lives ruined,” she said, “but all memories are destroyed.”
Valeria, the English teacher, said her hometown had already been ravaged. Her family is from Kreminna, in eastern Ukraine, which has been occupied by Russian forces since early in the war.
Her father is still there; she has not seen him in years.
“I don’t know if I ever will see him again,” she said. “As cynical as it may sound, even though he is alive, part of me has already said goodbye to him.”
She said she did not know what Mr. Trump would do, but hoped Ukraine would “have the primary voice in such serious decisions as our future, especially on matters of war and peace.”
“Unfortunately,” she said, “there’s a growing sense that the fate of Ukrainian citizens is often being discussed without our participation.”
Liubov Sholudko and Anna Lukinova contributed reporting.
