KYIV AND WASHINGTON—The outcome of the U.S. congressional elections this week, which gave Democrats control of both the Senate and the House of Representatives, will be welcomed in some countries more than others, including Ukraine—which has quarreled with Republican-controlled Washington off and on for two years now.
So what are ordinary Ukrainians saying about the results?
KYIV AND WASHINGTON—The outcome of the U.S. congressional elections this week, which gave Democrats control of both the Senate and the House of Representatives, will be welcomed in some countries more than others, including Ukraine—which has quarreled with Republican-controlled Washington off and on for two years now.
So what are ordinary Ukrainians saying about the results?
In Kyiv, which is now preparing for a brutal winter, some residents seemed cautiously optimistic. But on a day marked by sweeping power and water cuts following a barrage of Russian attacks on critical infrastructure, Ukrainians appeared far more focused on ensuring their daily survival.
“The main thing for us is that there’s water and electricity—and no war,” said Yulia, who declined to give her last name. “I hope things will be better.”
The U.S. midterm results come as Russia has ramped up its campaign of hybrid warfare in Europe and escalated its attacks against Ukraine, damaging critical infrastructure and regularly upending daily life across the country. In Kyiv on Wednesday, disruptions to energy and water supplies prompted officials to establish emergency centers in hard-hit areas and urge residents to get their water from public fountains.
Those impacts were visible at one café in the city, which was forced to rely on a generator for power. A staff member told Foreign Policy that the generator had already been running for eight hours. Elsewhere in the café, a row of power packs for rent testified to the difficulty of doing much without electricity.
Maxim Yersigngeyev, who had brought his young daughter to have breakfast at the café due to a blackout at home, said he didn’t particularly follow the U.S. election. “But if it’s good for Ukraine, that’s good,” he said.
In the southern Zaporizhzhia region, search-and-rescue operations have been underway after Russian forces bombed a humanitarian hub on Monday, killing at least 40 people and leaving dozens more missing under the rubble. The attack could rank among one of the deadliest against civilians in nearly five years of war.
The timing of that strike, as well as other Russian strikes earlier this week, drew a sharp response from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who said that it was “very telling” that the attacks coincided with the U.S. congressional elections.
“The Russians believe that America will not notice this signal from them. But such terror must be noticed and stopped,” Zelensky said in a post on X on Tuesday. “It is essential to help build peace honestly and reliably, and America can do that.”
Tensions have been high between Zelensky and U.S. President Donald Trump, with one sticking point being the powerful Patriot air defense interceptors that can shield against Russian ballistic missile attacks.
Zelensky has warned of shrinking supplies of the weapons and accused the United States of slow-rolling deliveries, and the Trump administration has previously backtracked on pledges to share the technology underpinning the missiles with Kyiv.
The Trump administration last week approved a proposed $2.1 billion sale of the missiles for Ukraine, although Zelensky has said that it could take “several years” for the weapons to arrive. The sale runs through a U.S. program and would be completely funded by Canada, Norway, and Germany.
And further negotiations are on the horizon. On Wednesday, the European Commission is set to host representatives from Ukraine, the United States, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, NATO, and the World Bank for talks on postwar reconstruction and security guarantees.
Next week, Washington is also expected to mediate talks between Kyiv and Moscow in Abu Dhabi, with discussions focusing on “post-war security arrangements, de-escalation, humanitarian efforts, and next steps toward peace,” U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff announced in a post on X.
Back in Kyiv, Valeriy Shevchenko told Foreign Policy that he was happy with the Democrats’ wins but had his eye more on the 2028 presidential election.
“But as you see, we are constantly being attacked, specifically through power outages—we need to rely on ourselves,” he said, referring to Ukrainian air defenses.
