Ukrainians in Cambridge respond to ‘painful clarity’ of President Zelensky’s visit to White House

Ukrainians living and working in Cambridge have spoken of their feelings - described by one as “a painful clarity” - following US President Donald Trump and his vice president JD Vance’s unprecedented public clash with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky in the White House’s Oval Office yesterday (February 28).

The Ukrainian leader’s plane landed at Stansted Airport on Saturday morning following the spat with President Trump.

The meeting was portrayed as a showpiece for a deal between the US and Ukraine which would give the US access to mineral deposits on Ukrainian soil.

Instead, in an instantly historic volte-face played out in a live press conference, the US president claimed President Zelensky was “gambling with World War Three”. The Ukrainian leader was also accused of not being thankful enough for US military aid by both the US president and his deputy Mr Vance.

The meeting ended with Mr Zelensky reportedly being kicked out of the White House, the deal cast aside. But as his plane landed on British soil, the Ukrainian president struck a conciliatory tone in a series of posts on X, formerly Twitter.

Mr Zelensky said Ukraine was “very grateful to the United States for all the support”.

“I’m thankful to President Trump, Congress for their bipartisan support, and American people,” he added.

Ukraine’s leader added: “It’s crucial for us to have President Trump’s support.

“He wants to end the war, but no one wants peace more than we do.

“We are the ones living this war in Ukraine.

“It’s a fight for our freedom, for our very survival.”

In Cambridge, the reaction was one of shock and dismay - and anger.

Andrii Smytsniuk, co-founder of Cambridge4Ukraine, said: “As a Ukrainian who has lived, worked and studied in the United States, I am absolutely sickened by the rude treatment of the Ukrainian president by the American leadership.

“It seems like the American president and vice-president [want to] jeopardise any potential lasting peace by refusing Ukraine and Europe any agency and instead focusing on neocolonial resources extraction from a country that is in need of support.”

Anna Chop, a member of the Ukrainian community in Cambridge, said of the US leadership’s conduct: “They wanted President Zelensky to show that he and his country are entirely at their mercy, kiss their rings and submit wholeheartedly to their will. This is the only way this confrontation can be interpreted. And thanks to God this is not what happened.

Of President Zelensky she said: “As a president he was representing Ukrainian people in the Oval Office, and as a Ukrainian citizen I am really glad he did not back down or abandon our dignity as a nation just to appease people who don't even know the real reasons why the full scale war broke out, to sign a shortsighted peace deal that will bring more war to Ukraine.”

Diana Shypovych, Ukrainian student at the University of Cambridge, said: “Three years ago, when Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the world assumed that Ukraine would fall in three days. Those thinking like that have profoundly misunderstood us. They underestimated our desire to live in our free, sovereign country, speak our language and decide our future.

“Yesterday, we witnessed yet another profound misunderstanding of Ukraine. American President Donald Trump and his supporters think that Ukraine can be publicly bullied into peace with the Russian aggressor. While they seem to recognise the pain and suffering we have been through in the past three years, they fail to see how it fuels our fight rather than bends us to our knees.”

Some Cambridge residents were also exasperated with the events in the Oval Office.

Anastasiia Shakhnazarian, a native to Crimea, now twice-displaced, said: “Vance and Trump remind me more of children that ran out of solid statements to make and now they have switched to ‘at least I have a nicer suit and you don’t’”.

Kateryna Rybalochka, a native of Mykolaiv: "It feels like a painful clarity. The clarity is about the fact that what will be happening in Ukraine, Europe and the democratic world now depends on us, people who want to live not by the street rules of bullies, but following our values.”

Lilia Bilous, a native of Kharkiv, said: It is not the way you behave with partners, only with subordinates or slaves. On the other hand, I am nervous about how it will affect support for Ukraine, which now fights with the greatest evil of modern history.”

Meanwhile Inna Sukhoraba, a Waterbeach resident who arrived in the UK in April 2022, was relatively upbeat: “I watched the events yesterday all night - on BBC, CNN and different US channels, and also the Fox News interview with President Zelensky,” she said.

“The message is to be strong and if someone wants to humiliate us we will not allow this, especially in front of the whole world. We are fighting for our independence and our sovereignty. I support all the actions taken by my president and frankly I didn’t want him to sign that agreement [over mineral rights]. I had been feeling very bad for a couple of days about the deal. I was worried. When I saw what was happening, I was satisfied that this mineral deal, which lacked any security guarantees, fell through. I believe Ukraine can secure a mineral deal with terms more favourable to her interests in the future."

Anna Starushkevych, a Cambridge-based opera singer and film maker, said: “What we witnessed with the visit of the president of Ukraine to America is absolutely surreal. It is absolutely surreal what is happening in the world, and how we call black white, and white black.

“What I am worried about is for this bullying, this public victim-shaming, not to become the norm. Ukrainians are victims of aggression, victims of this unprovoked invasion, but we will never act like victims.”

A No 10 spokeswoman said the UK Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, “retains unwavering support for Ukraine, and is doing all he can to find a path forward to a lasting peace based on sovereignty and security for Ukraine”.

Sir Keir’s crunch talks at Downing Street tomorrow (Sunday) will see European leaders gear up efforts to police a future Ukraine peace deal.