Ukrainians in Triangle 'not giving up hope' following Trump-Putin summit

RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- The Triangle is home to a large Ukrainian population, including many refugees who came from Ukraine during the ongoing war. They've been following the US-Russia summit closely, and while they are disappointed in what they've seen, they're not giving up hope.

A world away from Chapel Hill, Nataliia Bondarenko was experiencing a much different world visiting Kyiv last month.

In the capital of her home country, there were signs that the war was still raging, such as people taking shelter from rockets in the metro.

"You have to spend a night, and you have to put your children between the trains and on the blanket, on the mattress, and this is how people have been surviving for more than three years now. Yeah, that was painful to me," she said.

But she said it was an important trip home. Bondarenko, who now teaches at UNC, got a chance to meet with Ukrainian prisoners of war (POWs) released from Russia.

"They share awful stories, how you can be tortured for, for example, for praying," she said.

Bondarenko said she's planning on connecting UNC students with Ukraine's POWs so they can learn from them.

She wants to see the war end, but said the summit that excluded Zelenskyy wasn't the way to do it, especially since she noted that Putin was welcomed with respect on American soil.

"The way I see it is this murderer, the dictator Vladimir Putin, should be judged and should be at this time in jail. Not shaking hands with the leader of a free world, not being accepted by the greatest democracy in the world. This is all just insane," Bondarenko said.

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President Trump announced that no deal was made during the Alaska meeting with Putin. And for many Ukrainians, any territory being ceded to Russia would be a non-starter.

"For somebody you know, the land swap might seem like a good solution for Ukrainians, it's not as much about the land. It is about the people who live on that territory. And we have seen the horrors that people have to go through under Russian occupation," said Olena Kozlova-Pates.

Professor Graeme Robertson at UNC has studied the region for decades. He said the meeting was more about optics, and doesn't see Ukraine wanting to lose territory, or Russia willing to give up its invasion of Ukraine.

"I see this thing grinding on for maybe another year, who knows, but certainly the odds of there being a settlement, I think right now are pretty low," he said.

But for Ukrainians in the Triangle, they're grateful for the support of the place they have to call home for now.

"Did you notice how many Ukrainian flags were there? How much of support from American society we have, and I of support we cannot lose our hope for," Bondarenko said.

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