STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
More than 1 million Ukrainians and Ukrainian Americans live in the United States, enough to make their own major city. Many have watched closely as the U.S. responded to Russia's attacks on Ukraine across more than a decade. And then they watched, in recent days, as President Trump and Vice President Vance berated Ukraine's president last week and then cut off military aid and intelligence sharing. So what are Ukrainians thinking now? Carmen Russell-Sluchansky of member station WHYY went to see some.
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CARMEN RUSSELL-SLUCHANSKY, BYLINE: It's the 18th annual futsal tournament at the Ukrainian American Cultural Center of New Jersey. Futsal is an indoor version of soccer. Roman Chupraynyak, the coach for the Philadelphia-based team the Ukrainian Nationals, was born in Ukraine but immigrated to Philadelphia when he was 16 years old.
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RUSSELL-SLUCHANSKY: Like many of the Ukrainian American visitors here today, Chupraynyak's mind is on the war in the homeland and the radical shift the United States appears to be taking in the conflict. He says he blew up with anger watching President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance's meeting with Zelenskyy.
ROMAN CHUPRAYNYAK: It really just confirmed what I was afraid of. That's why I didn't vote for the guy. This is what I was thinking that will happen. He's just going to do something crazy that's not going to be for Ukraine, that's all. And this is what's happening. He's not getting the deal he wants. He's getting angry, and his vice president is even worse.
RUSSELL-SLUCHANSKY: Nearly 200,000 people of Ukrainian descent live in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Several thousand, like Iryna Grach, were born in Ukraine. She was picking up her 9-year-old twins from their classes at the center. Grach says she's always loved America for standing up for what's right. That changed when she watched the meeting between Trump and Zelenskyy.
IRYNA GRACH: All that was shattered because the strongest person in the United States bullied and beating someone who has been struggling for the last three years, without a chance to defend himself in the foreign language and being attacked on the foreign territory.
RUSSELL-SLUCHANSKY: Grach identifies as a Republican but says she voted against Trump in November. She says Ukraine wasn't even a factor. She just felt he didn't have integrity. Oksana Telepko teaches at the cultural center. Her two grown daughters speak Ukrainian despite growing up in the U.S. She said the community strongly supports Zelenskyy, and that support has increased since the ill-fated White House visit.
OKSANA TELEPKO: We all care about our native land. Everybody has a different opinion, but people know we have to stay together and support the president. And only when we're going to stay together, then we can do something.
RUSSELL-SLUCHANSKY: Twenty-three-year-old Maksym Bukachevsky plays for New Jersey-based Shakhtar United. He voted for Trump in November but didn't like how the president treated Zelenskyy.
MAKSYM BUKACHEVSKY: I don't think I would change my vote, but I was disappointed in how he acted personally, yes, especially being Ukrainian American.
RUSSELL-SLUCHANSKY: Bukachevsky is still hopeful that Trump will pursue peace in the region.
BUKACHEVSKY: I do think, you know, with Donald Trump's relationship with Putin, they can possibly, you know, work out something with Zelenskyy.
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RUSSELL-SLUCHANSKY: The Ukrainian American Cultural Center says it has sent $4 million in aid to Ukraine, including food, ambulances, medical supplies and diapers.
For NPR News, I'm Carmen Russell-Sluchansky in Whipanny, New Jersey.
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