{"id":247382,"date":"2025-02-26T18:11:26","date_gmt":"2025-02-26T18:11:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/02\/26\/rare-protest-at-u-s-embassy-in-ukraine-reflects-fears-over-trump\/"},"modified":"2025-02-26T18:11:26","modified_gmt":"2025-02-26T18:11:26","slug":"rare-protest-at-u-s-embassy-in-ukraine-reflects-fears-over-trump","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/02\/26\/rare-protest-at-u-s-embassy-in-ukraine-reflects-fears-over-trump\/","title":{"rendered":"Rare Protest at U.S. Embassy in Ukraine Reflects Fears Over Trump"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align:center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/02\/26\/multimedia\/26ukraine-protest-01-lzcg\/26ukraine-protest-01-lzcg-facebookJumbo.jpg?ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"Rare Protest at U.S. Embassy in Ukraine Reflects Fears Over Trump\" title=\"Rare Protest at U.S. Embassy in Ukraine Reflects Fears Over Trump\" \/><\/div><p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-0\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Maryna Tymchenko walked to the U.S. embassy on Wednesday morning and held up a homemade cardboard sign over her head: \u201cReagan would have hated it,\u201d the sign read, alluding to the former president who famously called the Soviet Union <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1983\/03\/09\/us\/reagan-denounces-ideology-of-soviet-as-focus-of-evil.html\" title=\"\">\u201can evil empire.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">She said she felt whiplash from the past two weeks as the United States, once Ukraine\u2019s top ally, and the Republican Party, the party of Ronald Reagan, appeared to back Russia in its war against Ukraine.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But Ms. Tymchenko, who skipped lunch for the small protest, was nuanced in her views: She was angry with President Trump, who appeared to blame Ukraine\u2019s leaders for Russia\u2019s invasion of her country. But she was grateful for America\u2019s past support of Ukraine\u2019s war effort.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">She was confused: Why had the United States aligned with Russia? Why had initial talks to end the war taken place between the United States and Russia while leaving out Ukraine? Why was the Trump administration pushing Ukraine to sign a deal \u2014 which appeared to be in its <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/02\/26\/world\/europe\/us-ukraine-minerals-deal-security.html\" title=\"\">final stages<\/a> on Wednesday \u2014 that would grant the United States at least some future profits from the mining of critical minerals in Ukraine?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-1\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cIt feels like a knife in the back from your dear friend,\u201d said Ms. Tymchenko, 27, who works for an information technology company in Kyiv. \u201cThat\u2019s why I\u2019m here. It\u2019s so weird. That\u2019s not what the U.S. is supposed to do. You\u2019re the leader. You\u2019re strong. Why don\u2019t you support us?\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">As anti-American protests go, this was more of a plea for help than a shout of anger. There were no chants of \u201cDeath to America,\u201d as happens at even the most benign protests in Pakistan or Iran. The woman who organized the protest was gentle in her admonitions.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-2\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cTrump is making America very small,\u201d the organizer, Anabella Morina, said several times, while holding a banner that said \u201cGod, save America\u201d and depicted the Statue of Liberty, Mr. Trump and President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia in a strange embrace.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">There were more police officers and journalists at the embassy\u2019s front gates than the handful of protesters. The protest, announced on Facebook on Monday, was held in the middle of a workday, and most attendees were retirees or activists.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-3\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Still, the demonstration was emblematic of what could become a shift in Ukrainian opinion on America, with President Volodymyr Zelensky taking a more barbed tone toward its longtime ally in the war.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cOur people are used to criticizing their own president \u2014 that\u2019s our prerogative,\u201d Ms. Morina said. \u201cTrump has no right to interfere. I apologize in advance for criticizing your president, but he is interfering in our affairs. This is my opinion, but I also know many who share my view \u2014 his current policies are aimed at Ukraine\u2019s defeat.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\"><a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/ratinggroup.ua\/en\/research\/ukraine\/attitudes_toward_specific_european_leaders_21_february.html\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">A poll<\/a> by a Ukrainian company called Rating Group that was conducted after Mr. Trump called Mr. Zelensky a dictator found that Mr. Zelensky\u2019s approval rating had gone up, to 65 percent from 57 percent in January.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cI was against Zelensky myself, I never voted for him,\u201d said Alla Iskra, 61, a former economist and casino manager who came to the protest on Wednesday. But, she added, \u201cWhen Trump went against Zelensky, we all united.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-4\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Under President Biden, the United States was Ukraine\u2019s biggest supporter, leading an international coalition against Russia and its invasion.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-5\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But now, Ukrainian online memes feature photos of Mr. Trump alone, juxtaposed with photos of Mr. Zelensky surrounded by Western leaders, as he was in Kyiv on Monday, the third anniversary of Russia\u2019s full-scale invasion.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">A frequently shared meme features a cartoon rendition of a well-known photograph from the Kyiv suburb of Bucha in the early days of the invasion: a broken bicycle and a young man\u2019s body. Only this rendition included Mr. Trump looking down at the body and saying, \u201cYou started it!\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Ukrainians typically love a good protest. In fact, past ones have led to revolutions: the Revolution on Granite in 1990, the Orange Revolution in 2004 and the Revolution of Dignity in 2013 and 2014. Throughout the war, demonstrators have gathered on a weekly basis to protest the plight of Ukrainian prisoners of war.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But protests at the U.S. embassy in Kyiv have, until now, been rare.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Several Ukrainians at Wednesday\u2019s protest assailed Kyiv\u2019s deal this week in which it agreed to turn over the revenue from some of its mineral resources to the United States.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-6\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Pavlo Derhachov, 35, called it \u201ca new form of colonialism, hybrid colonialism.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">And signs at the protest proclaimed \u201cno blackmail\u201d and \u201cno to looting Ukraine.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Ms. Iskra, the former economist who was among the protesters, said she feared Mr. Trump\u2019s insistence on gaining access to Ukraine\u2019s critical minerals.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cWhen Trump started talking about mineral resources, I thought he meant something good, something about helping and protecting Ukraine,\u201d she said. \u201cBut then I realized this is just business \u2014 he is making money off Ukraine.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-798hid etfikam0\">Oleksandra Mykolyshyn<!-- --> contributed reporting from Kyiv.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/02\/26\/world\/europe\/ukraine-kyiv-protest-embassy.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Maryna Tymchenko walked to the U.S. embassy on Wednesday morning and held up a homemade cardboard sign over her head: \u201cReagan would have hated it,\u201d the sign read, alluding to the former president who famously called the Soviet Union \u201can evil empire.\u201d She said she felt whiplash from the past two weeks as the United [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":247383,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/02\/26\/multimedia\/26ukraine-protest-01-lzcg\/26ukraine-protest-01-lzcg-facebookJumbo.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[43104,163575,10927,2622,191795,9724,163229,209,9322,82106,5068,170446,52,221,1130,128437,128440,34139,8774],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247382"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=247382"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247382\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":247384,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247382\/revisions\/247384"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/247383"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=247382"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=247382"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=247382"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}