Oleg Opalnyk came to the U.S. from Ukraine and became an American citizen in 2007. “I’m shocked that American democracy is in this stage, lining up with a dictatorship like Russia,” he said. He worries about the Trump administration approaching the authoritarianism he already knows. Derek Davis/Portland Press Herald

Turning its back on Ukraine, pursuing normal relations with Russia, appearing to cozy up with authoritarian leaders. Oleg Opalnyk can’t understand how the United States reached this point.

“I’m shocked that American democracy is in this stage, lining up with a dictatorship like in Russia,” said Opalnyk, who fled the region more than two decades ago and became an American citizen in 2007. “All the people that came from Ukraine and are here right now — that escaped war — they are very shocked over what’s happening in America right now. And they got betrayed by the U.S. stopping all the military help.”

Like many, the Pownal resident watched in shock as a meeting between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and President Donald Trump turned hostile last month. Trump and Vice President JD Vance accused the Ukrainian leader of being ungrateful for previous American aid, and Trump charged that Zelensky has “no cards” and is “gambling with World War III.”

Zelensky was ultimately asked to leave the White House, and a minerals deal that was supposed to be signed was left up in the air.

“They made out of Zelensky this ‘dictator’ now, and the nation that has been trying to survive — it’s their fault. … I just don’t understand. How is it possible that people can be that cruel?” Opalnyk said. “It’s strange right now. I don’t know where this is going to go.”

For some Ukrainians living in Maine, the country’s dire position — and the United States’ shifting attitude toward defending it against Russia — creates dual anxieties: While the fate of their homeland appears uncertain, so too does the political landscape of their new home and their place within it.

Gray resident Zhenya Shevchenko, 49, said he is “afraid this country is turning into Russia.”

He fled Lviv more than two decades ago, settling in the United States in late 2000, he said. But now, he feels the creep of authoritarianism beginning to eat away at the values of freedom and democracy that partially drew him to the U.S. to begin with.

“Obviously, someone in the White House is looking as an example on (Russian President Vladimir) Putin,” Shevchenko said. He noted staffing cuts at federal agencies: “All the infrastructure of (the U.S.) is getting destroyed. I’m very afraid of that, too.”

Shevchenko called the meeting-turned-shouting-match “an ambush” and said Trump appeared to demand Ukraine give up “on Russian conditions.” The whole incident was unsurprising, he said.

ZELENSKY’S DESPERATION

President Donald Trump met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the White House on Feb. 28. Mystyslav Chernov/Associated Press

Days after his meeting with Trump, Zelensky issued a statement on social media calling the back-and-forth “regrettable” and saying that he was willing to work “under President Trump’s strong leadership.” He added that Ukraine was still ready to commit to an agreement that would trade some of its mineral rights for security assurances by the U.S.

Opalnyk said that statement made sense, given Ukraine’s dire position and Trump’s approach to diplomacy.

“When people are drowning, you try to grab at whatever’s there,” Opalnyk said. “Knowing Trump — he knows Trump now — you have to kiss ass.”

While it was encouraging to see European countries rapidly demonstrate their support for Ukraine after the Oval Office blowup, Opalnyk worries that those nations’ military capabilities lag behind the United States. It’s hard to imagine Ukraine effectively fending off Russia without American backing, he said.

Those Shevchenko speaks to who are still in Ukraine have grown tired of war, “tired of running into the bomb shelters,” he said. But they believe surrender would leave their children without a future.

“This is the war to erase the (Ukrainian) nation and identity,” Shevchenko said.

Shevchenko worries that Trump could demand Ukraine pull out of what Russian territory it currently occupies, while being forced to surrender its own Russian-occupied territory. And while he tries to remain hopeful, he has little faith that the administration will fully realign itself with Ukraine.

Meanwhile, Ukrainians who more recently arrived in the U.S. worry about what the changing political landscape could mean for their residency.

Opalnyk said he’s spoken to others who arrived as refugees after the war broke out and now worry about their legal status. A landlord himself, Opalnyk said one of his Ukrainian tenants has already reported being harassed by law enforcement over their immigration status.

He spoke Tuesday. Two days later, Reuters reported that the Trump administration plans to revoke legal status for more than 240,000 Ukrainians who fled to the U.S. amid the invasion, potentially fast-tracking their deportation. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a post on social media that “no decision has been made at this time.”

UNSTABLE STATUS

Raymond resident Edward Gatta has helped secure sponsorship for a handful of Ukrainian families now living in Maine and New Hampshire, and stays in regular contact with them. He said the Reuters report set off a new wave of anxiety, as those he works with scramble to figure out where they could go if forced to flee a second country.

A damaged apartment building after a Russian-guided aircraft bomb attack in Kostiantynivka, Donetsk region, Ukraine, on Feb. 24. Yevhen Titov/Associated Press

“Even though they were trying to prepare themselves for it, there’s a level of desperation,” Gatta said Thursday evening. “They just don’t know what to do. And there’s nowhere for them to go. They can’t go back to Ukraine right now.”

Gatta said the whirlwind of declarations, retractions and reiterations flowing from the Trump administration make it extremely difficult to plan ahead. He cited Trump’s back-and-forth on tariffs as one example.

“The rules now — there are no rules. So, even though we think they have protected status, there’s no guarantee that (the federal government) won’t negate that,” Gatta said. “I don’t think that they have any barometer.”

Gatta said he asked the families he works with if they would be interested in speaking to a reporter, but they declined to do so for fear of retaliation. Some of the people he works with are “a little paranoid about going out in public,” he said.

Among those who fled the carnage is Inna Cherednichenko, 36, who arrived in Maine with her husband and son about two years ago. They recently renewed their temporary protected status, she said.

They found a home in Windham and enrolled their son, now 13, in a local school. Cherednichenko promised him that would be the last time he’d have to change schools, but she worries she may not be able to keep her word if their residency is threatened.

“When we saw the meeting between the two presidents, the level of stress was so high — as (high as) it was when the war started,” she said.

Shortly after the meeting, Cherednichenko called her grandmother, still in Ukraine, and listened to the older woman cry over the phone.

It’s difficult to tell whether the U.S.’s apparent turn away from Ukraine can be reversed, or if it represents a more permanent shift in attitude, she said. And “quarrels” like the Oval Office argument undermine her hope that a lasting peace will come anytime soon.

Like others who spoke to the Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram, Cherednichenko expressed doubt that the war could be resolved diplomatically.

“It’s really hard for me to understand when people are saying that we can speak with Putin, and he will change,” Cherednichenko said. “He wants Ukraine, he wants other countries, and he wants to make a Soviet Union a second time.”

She suggested that it’s difficult for Americans to understand Putin’s cruelty without living through it themselves.

“I think when you don’t see and you don’t feel it, and it is not close to you, you don’t understand it,” she said. “Half of our country is already ruined.”