WASHINGTON — As President Trump and President Zelenskyy went toe to toe in the Oval Office, many Ukrainian refugees in Washington remain in limbo.
“I want all the lives we lost not to be wasted,” says refugee Lina Ngo. She and her family fled Kyiv three years ago.
Ngo is one of more than 16,000 Ukrainian refugees now calling Washington home.
President Trump has long called for a ceasefire. Ngo says she and many Ukrainians want a ceasefire, but don’t believe Russia would agree in good faith.
“History shows us that none of the agreements with Russia made is worth even the paper it is written on,” says Ngo.
She watched the verbal back-and-forth Friday, between Presidents Trump and Zelenskyy.
“Today was a win for Putin,” assesses Ngo.
State Representative Jim Walsh, a Republican, says he backs the President after watching the talks in the Oval Office unfold.
“We want to see a better outcome there, we want to see peace restored, but we don’t want to commit American resources or American people to a cause which is not ours directly and which could go on for many years,” says Rep. Walsh.
Online, a more critical rebuke from Washington’s Democratic senators.
Senator Patty Murray called the President a ‘useful idiot for Putin’ on X.
Senator Pramila Jayapal called it ‘horrifying and stunning to see this administration is standing with dictators over our own allies,’ on X.
Here in Washington state, people like Carl Larson are working to garner local support for Ukraine, as it wavers at the U.S. Capitol.
Larson is an Iraq veteran who served in Ukraine at the start of the war, by training and fighting with other international troops. Larson also founded the Ukraine Defense Support, a Washington non-profit that supports Ukrainians.
“Of course, the best solution would be to defeat Russia on the battlefield and push them out of Ukrainian territory,” says Larson.
When asked if Ukraine could do that without America’s help, he says this: “That’s the big elephant in the room. Can they do that with America’s help? Because they haven’t been able to do that over the last two and a half, three years,” says Larson.
Larson says that while he doesn’t agree with Friday’s confrontation, he does support some of Trump’s recent accusations about a lack of international support.
“I agree with President Trump that the Europeans have to do vastly more. They do have more skin in the game, and they have not been fulfilling their obligations,” says Larson.
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