The village, like so many others, was gray, deserted by most of its residents who fled from the advance of Russian forces along the front line in the Dnipro region. Houses now serve as a rear base for the Ukrainian military. For the past few weeks, one of them, set up as a "stabilization point," housed a team of doctors, responsible for the emergency treatment of seriously wounded soldiers before they are sent to hospitals far from the front. News of the suspension of US military aid on Tuesday, March 4, spread very quickly.

The team at the "stabilization point" learned about the decision at dawn. The doctors said they were not surprised. They have been following the US's spectacular recent rapprochement with Russia, Washington's demands for Ukrainian minerals and the brutal clash between Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday, February 28, in the Oval Office at the White House. "By humiliating Volodymyr Zelensky, they humiliated the whole country, all Ukrainians, even those who died," said Nadya, 40. "That's why this decision doesn't surprise me."

"It's crazy what happened that day, we understood that Trump is not on our side," Rostyslav said. "Kit" by his nom de guerre is a 22-year-old nurse who spent three years in the infantry. "Zelensky says we want peace, and we do. We want to stop the war, we're exhausted, we're short of human resources." But, "we have no choice but to fight to prevent the Russians from taking our territories," he said, skeptical about the Kremlin's willingness to end the conflict. In his view, American military support remains crucial if Ukraine is to negotiate a "just peace."

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