Hope, pragmatism compete in Kyiv

Soldiers in a Ukrainian artillery battery on the frontlines of the country’s east were only vaguely aware of American election results pointing to Donald Trump’s victory Wednesday — but firm in their hopes for the next president of the United States.

Their entrenched artillery battery fires on Russian forces daily — and takes fire nearly as often. Just the other day, one of their overhead nets snared a Russian drone.

“I hope that the quantity of weapons, the quantity of guns for our victory will increase,” the unit’s 39-year-old commander, who goes by the name Mozart, said in the hours before Trump’s win was confirmed. “We don’t care who the president is, as long as they don’t cut us off from help, because we need it,” he added. Though Trump’s election throws into doubt American support for Ukraine — and ultimately whether Kyiv can beat back Russia’s invasion — the soldiers who use their Starlink connection to Internet sparingly learned of the results from Associated Press journalists.

It was under Trump that the United States first sent weapons to Ukraine in its fight against Russia, in 2017.

Will see if Trump’s win ends war: Kremlin

The Kremlin reacted cautiously on Wednesday after Donald Trump was elected US president, saying America was still a hostile state and that only time would tell if Trump’s rhetoric on ending the Ukraine war translated into reality