Blog
Published on March 1, 2025
by Brian Dooley
By Brian Dooley
Kharkiv, Ukraine: Locals here have reacted furiously to how President Donald Trump and Vice-President JD Vance treated Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at yesterday’s press conference.
The White House clash took place around 8:30pm here local time, not long before the city shuts down for curfew, but when people emerged back onto the streets this morning all the talk was about the press conference disaster, and about another night of heavy Russian bombing of the city center.
The press conference “was hilarious and horrendous,” said media worker Ruslan Misiunia. Hotel receptionist Svitlana held her face in her hands, cringing at the memory of seeing the attacks on Zelenskyy. “I was watching and thinking this is like old men arguing on the street,” she said.
Locals in Kharkiv don’t usually strike up conversations with strangers, but this morning I was approached many times by people I don’t know wanting my opinion on the press conference. Architect Aleksander, like many others, told me he was impressed at how calm Zelenskyy stayed during the attacks from Trump and Vance. “I didn’t vote for Zelenskyy,” he said. “But he represented Ukraine well last night. Trump is an idiot—he thinks Putin can be trusted to make a deal.”
Ambulance workers rescue patients from Kharkiv’s hospital, bombed the night of March 1, 2025. Photo credit: Kharkiv Media Hub
Aleksander included the press conference at the end of a long list of familiar Ukrainian complaints about how the United States has failed to back Ukraine against Russia, from when President Bill Clinton persuaded Ukraine to give up its nuclear weapons in 1994 (something Clinton now says he regrets), to when President Barack Obama “did nothing” when Putin invaded Crimea in 2014, to President Joe Biden’s reluctance to provide Ukraine with the weapons needed to counter the full-scale invasion of February 2022. “America sold us out again and again—don’t they get that Putin is a threat to them? We’re not asking for their soldiers, just their help.”
In August 2022, when the city was still largely deserted after the Russian invasion a few months before, I wrote from here about how local coffee shop Lyatusho had reopened, an early glimmer of the city coming back to life. Back there today, talk was all about the press conference.
“I’m no big fan of Zelenskyy, but he did well last night. Trump was attacking Ukraine, not just our president. I’m glad he didn’t sign the minerals deal with Trump,” said one young woman.
“Trump is just a business guy, he’s not trying to protect Ukraine, or even America, he just sees Ukraine as a business enterprise,” said one of the baristas. “The attacks on Zelenskyy looked planned. Trump’s only way of conversation is to provoke, and they (Trump and Vance) took turns to escalate the provocations on Zelenskyy. I like that he didn’t stay quiet or just accept the bullying.”
Part of the exchange which hit a particular nerve in Kharkiv was Vance’s retort to Zelenskyy’s question “Have you ever been to Ukraine to see the problems we have?” and vice president Vance responded “I know what happens, you bring people on a propaganda tour, Mr. President.”
Kharkiv, far in the northeast of Ukraine, is about 20 miles from the Russian border, the country’s second biggest city. It’s about the size of Philadelphia, and unlike most of the rest of the country, is regularly bombed. Many locals feel neglected and forgotten by the U.S. government.
American diplomats, citing security concerns, haven’t been here since before Russia’s full-scale invasion of February 2022. As Kharkiv Mayor Igor Terekhov says, “We have many people supporting us, but they do not have the courage to come to Kharkiv.” It’s a frustration Human Rights First has highlighted many times over the last three years as we’ve regularly reported on the work of local Human Rights Defenders in the city and along the eastern front. In the 36 months since the full-scale invasion, this is my 18th visit to document what U.S. diplomats aren’t seeing for themselves—a city under almost constant fire.
Zelenskyy was right that Vance should come here and witness firsthand the reality of what Russian violence feels like. “We should invite Vance to the front line to see what’s real, and what’s a propaganda tour,” said a guy in the coffee shop.
Soon after the press conference finished last night, the city was rocked by a series of large explosions. A hospital was hit, along with a supermarket and various residential buildings. Local news reported a dozen casualties. One young man told me he suspected a link between the missile attacks and the press conference: “Putin was encouraged by how he saw Trump talk to Zelenskyy,” but most other locals I spoke to thought it coincidence, another random night of heavy bombardment.
The curfew is about to begin again tonight as the city hunkers down in the winter cold. It’s 7:40pm and the air raid alarms have already started as we brace for another night of Russian missile attacks.
