Anger, anguish, sadness. The American president's remarks about Ukraine and its President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday, February 28, provoked outrage and horror in the war-torn country. A torrent of emotions that Ukrainians, whether civilians nowhere near the front or soldiers on the frontline, shared en masse on Telegram channels and social media, throughout a night marked by numerous Russian bombardments on several cities.

The shock was all the greater given that many had been hoping for a rapprochement between Zelensky and Trump in recent days, despite the latter's announcement on February 12 that he would open negotiations with Russia to end the conflict, without including Kyiv. Indeed, relations between the two men seemed to be moving toward calm, following the promise of an agreement on the joint exploitation of Kyiv's natural resources, the first version of which, disadvantageous for Kyiv, had been postponed at the risk of frustrating the American president. On Thursday, February 27, on the eve of this meeting with his counterpart, Trump even had some kind words for the Ukrainian president, denying that he had ever called him a "dictator" – which he had done a week earlier – and invoking his "respect" for "the best president of Ukraine."

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