Irrational and terrible: Ukrainians react to Putin’s red carpet welcomepublished at 12:57 British Summer Time
12:57 BST
Joel Gunter
Reporting from Kyiv
Image source, EPA
In the absence of any substantial outcome from last night’s summit, people in Kyiv are reacting to the way the Russian president was treated in Alaska – what politicians tend to call the ‘optics’ of the meeting.
American soldiers knelt to – literally – roll out the red carpet for Putin, while Trump referred to him as “the boss” and gave him a lift in the US presidential limousine.
“Red carpets and this type of ceremony are done at international events, but in this case – for an aggressor responsible for the deaths of millions – it should not have happened,” Maria Drachova, a 40-year-old lawyer, says.
“The rational world behaved irrationally by giving him that welcome,” she adds.
Image caption,
Maria Drachova says the warm welcome for President Putin is “irrational behaviour”
Serhii Orlyk, a 50-year-old veteran from the eastern Donetsk region, says he felt “crushed” by what he saw.
“I understand that for negotiations you shake hands, you can’t just slap Putin in the face when he arrives. But this spectacle with the red carpet and the kneeling soldiers, it’s terrible, it makes no sense.”
Valentyna Sikora, 72, a scientist, tells me she stayed up all night to watch the news. She is not bothered by the presentation, she says.
“To me, it seemed like just an external display. Everything around it looked like a performance, but the results didn’t match the spectacle.”
But, she expresses relief that “no conditions were put on Ukraine” adding: “Judging by the expressions of the Russian delegation, they didn’t look all that satisfied either, to be honest.”
Image caption,
Valentyna Sikora expresses relief that “no conditions were put on Ukraine” at the summit