(WXYZ) — The Metro Detroit Ukrainian community will be closely watching Monday's meeting between President Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, hoping for progress toward ending the war in Ukraine.
"This war needs to end," said Andriy Pereklita, assistant principal of the Ukrainian School of Language and Culture.
Pereklita, an Ann Arbor resident, says many of his Ukrainian friends and family are anxiously waiting to see what happens at the Washington meeting.
"What's going to happen tomorrow in Washington is going to be very tense, so I don't know what to think," Pereklita said.
The last time President Trump and President Zelenskyy met was in February; that meeting ended abruptly without a clear resolution after tensions ran high.
Various European leaders will join Monday's meeting with Zelenskyy and Trump, which Pereklita views as a positive development.
"That's a big step forward. Hopefully they will be able to placate President Trump a little bit and avoid the attack that happened in February," Pereklita said.
On Friday, President Trump held a summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Before that meeting, Trump had vowed to push Putin for an immediate ceasefire and warned of severe economic consequences if the Russian leader did not cooperate.
"Ukrainians have been apprehensive and then frustrated as of Friday at you know, President Trump shaking hands with a known war criminal and an indicted war criminal," Pereklita said.
When asked about the best-case scenario for Monday's meeting, Pereklita was clear about what he hopes to see.
"The best case scenario is that Mr. Trump actually agrees that this war needs to end and needs to end on terms that are necessary for Putin to stop the war, which means no land concessions sitting down after a ceasefire and actually hammering out what happens next, which means security guarantees for Ukraine that are iron clad," Pereklita said.
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