Members of the local Ukrainian community - especially those with family back in Ukraine - have been on edge since the war began.

In Ukraine, the morning of Aug. 16 began in suspense. Soon after waking, many rushed to anxiously check the outcome of the Alaska summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart,

Ukrainians at Irondequoit's Ukrainian Festival are feeling cautious and deeply skeptical that President Trump can work with Vladimir Putin to bring an end to the war in their homeland.

The Trump administration is letting a makeshift Biden-era program lapse.

Gallup has polled Ukrainians four times since the start of the full-scale invasion launched in February 2022. Its latest survey of 1,000 people was conducted between July 1 and July 14, 2025, with a margin of error of between 3.6 and 4.3 percentage points.

Peace talks between the United States and Russia, aimed at ending the war in Ukraine, have left local Ukrainians feeling tense. Despite ongoing discussions, no deal has been reached, and Ukraine remains under attack by Russia for more than three years.

Nazarenko has a son who is not yet fighting but could be called up. She said she believed that three years into the war, with hundreds of thousands of dead and wounded on the Ukrainian side alone, the preservation of life superseded all concerns over land.

Putin’s aggression on the Ukrainian front line has stepped up in the recent weeks, leaving locals with little choice but to flee west. Harry Stourton reports from the eastern town of Dobropillia