In a remarkable comeback that saw Donald Trump win the electoral college and popular vote in the Nov. 5 election, the 78-year-old conservative will take office on Jan. 20 more powerful than ever, with Republican control of the Senate and possibly the House of Representatives. While Trump’s pre-election campaign was largely focused on domestic issues, concern has loomed in Kyiv about Trump’s return due to his criticism of U.S. military assistance for Ukraine, whose army continues battling Russia

Republican candidate Donald Trump claims victory in the 2024 U.S. presidential elections, foreign leaders issue messages, congratulating the former president on returning the White House. The Republican Party will also take control of the U.S. Senate.  The House election results are still being counted. This will impact how — if at all — any future aid arrives in Kyiv from Washington. President Volodymyr Zelensky congratulated Donald Trump on his victory in the U.S. presidential election, voic

As Americans head to the polls on Nov. 5, Ukraine is nervously watching the elections being held by its top Western ally as the outcome could determine the country’s fate in its fight against Russia’s almost three-year-old full-scale invasion. The two candidates' pre-election positions on continuing to support Ukraine with weaponry are in such stark contrast that some experts estimate whoever emerges victorious will impact whether Kyiv stays in the fight or is choked of supplies to the point of

Voting in arguably one of the most consequential elections of modern times is set to conclude on Nov. 5, as U.S. citizens will pick their country's 47th president. Democratic nominee Kamala Harris and her Republican rival Donald Trump enter the home stretch neck-and-neck, according to recent polls, with neither of the candidates reportedly having a definitive lead in seven battleground states. While U.S. presidential elections are routinely closely watched by countries around the world, perhap

Democratic candidate Kamala Harris’s campaign promises to continue supporting Ukraine in its fight against Russia would seemingly make her the obvious choice for Ukrainians in the U.S. in the 2024 presidential elections, but the diaspora is anything but united in their choice for president. Despite Republican candidate Donald Trump’s open hostility to aid for Ukraine and apparent close relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin, some Ukrainian American voters feel he’s the one who could en

Ukrainian American Sophika Lashchyk-Tytla says she can’t understand why her brother plans to vote for Republican nominee Donald Trump, given his public hostility to continuing U.S. support for Ukraine. Hours after unconvincing arguments with her brother, the Philadelphia native carried a kit of campaign information as she canvassed in the city’s suburbs with fellow Ukrainians who’ve rallied around Democratic nominee Kamala Harris. Just ten days before the election, nearly a dozen went door-kno

PARMA, Ohio — After serving nearly three months in the Ukrainian Foreign Legion, a unit within the country’s army comprised of fighters from abroad, Manus McCaffery is known as a hometown hero in Parma, Ohio, home to one of the largest diaspora communities in the U.S. with roots from Ukraine. Months into Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine launched in 2022, the now 23-year-old U.S. veteran was wounded in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia Oblast. He dedicated the subsequent years to another way of supp

For Zygimantas Pavilionis, a member of the Lithuanian parliament, history is repeating itself: The Kremlin’s military sights are set on Europe beyond Ukraine and the U.S. is not listening to warnings from the Baltics. “In Europe, they listen to the Baltics, but in America, they are so arrogant that they don’t listen,” Pavilionis said. On top of its all-out war in Ukraine, Russia has recently driven up tensions around the NATO-allied Baltic states — Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania — as well as n

In the final weeks of campaigning for the U.S. election, a top focus of Donald Trump has been rebooting a wave of evangelical support that proved crucial to his victorious 2016 presidential campaign. “I’ll tell you another (group) that don’t vote, I love these people, evangelical Christians,” Trump, the Republican party’s presidential candidate, said at a rally on October 6. “If (evangelicals) did vote, we couldn’t lose an election.” However, in the run up to the high-stakes election, where T

A series of logistical constraints on U.S. Congressional members’ travel to Ukraine is increasingly raising worries about the effectiveness of American diplomacy to Kyiv, members of Congress and Congressional advisors told the Kyiv Independent. Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, members of the U.S. Congress have displayed their allied support with consistent visits to Kyiv, journeys that are typically widely photographed. But citing security concerns, the U.S. Stat

Ukraine was not mentioned at all, and Russia was referenced only once — in a passing comment from Republican Senator J.D. Vance about Russian interference into the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

The entire U.S. House and some members of the Senate are up for reelection in November — including some of Ukraine’s staunchest backers in Congress, which could have an impact on future support for Kyiv in its fight against Russia. All 435 members of the House will face re-election on Nov. 5. Voter turnout is expected to be higher than normal given the face-off between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris, likely increasing turnout for all congressional district races.

News that $6 billion worth of outstanding U.S. military aid to Ukraine could expire by the end of September if Congress doesn’t take urgent action is unsettling some in Kyiv, where the painful memory of a larger package delay that led to battlefield losses remains fresh. Delivering the $6 billion in additional U.S. aid depends on Congress extending the Pentagon’s authority to send weapons from its stockpiles to Ukraine. It is part of a larger $61 billion package approved last April after a seve

The fate of Ukraine's defense against Russia and the future of U.S. support for Kyiv was the subject of passionate exchange on Sept. 10 in the first and possibly only debate between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris. Trump refused to say that he wanted Ukraine to win the war and dodged a question as to whether a Ukrainian victory was in the United States' best interests. "I think it's the U.S. best interest to get this war finished and just get it done, negotiate a

Vice President Kamala Harris criticized Trump's position on Ukraine, saying, "I believe the reason that Donald Trump says that this war would be over within 24 hours is because he would just give it up. And that's not who we are as Americans."