Kiev, Ukraine – Upon stepping into a cafeteria named after Donald Trump in the Ukrainian capital, visitors immediately encountered the most anti-Russian interpretation of the U.S. president-elect's most famous war cry.

Inspired by Trump's "Make America Great Again" motto, a glowing "Make Russia Small Again" sign glowed above a display of cakes and donuts.

Most Ukrainians want to see their old enemy reduced to a small, centuries-old principality around Moscow.

But their views on Trump's ability to disparage Russia, stop or freeze the war and pave the way for Kyiv to join NATO and the European Union vary, ranging from rosy optimism to pessimistic opposition.

The manager of the "Trump" cafeteria believes his idol's "uncompromising" political tactics and business acumen will help bring the war to a swift end.

"Given his style in the political arena and the way he does business, I think he will be very careful but take courageous steps to resolve this crisis," said Roman Kravtsov, a bearded 27-year-old Kravtsov told Al Jazeera.

"He is a man of his word. He takes immediate action. He is a fairly uncompromising man," said Kravtsov, who hails from the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk, which has been dominated by pro-Russian militants since 2014. Separatist control.

Kravtsov dreamed of Trump going to his cafeteria, where he wanted to learn the art of business dealings from him.

But he worries that Ukraine will hardly be at the top of Trump's agenda.

"I'm not sure Ukraine is in the top five on his list of priorities," he said.

"No more ammunition"

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he wants Trump to provide "strong" security guarantees before any peace deal is reached.

"We want a just peace to end (the war) and to do that we need to be sure that Russia will not start another war against Ukraine. We need strong security guarantees," he said on Wednesday.

Yet for some Ukrainian servicemen on the war's front lines, Trump epitomizes the West's collective failure to contain Russia for too long.

In 2014, Moscow annexed Crimea and supported separatist forces - but Western sanctions did not deter Russian President Vladimir Putin.

In 2022, when a full-scale invasion of Ukraine began, the West promised to provide Kiev with missiles, tanks, artillery, ammunition and fighter jets.

But deliveries of nearly everything have been delayed, leading to missed opportunities to regain occupied territory and countless casualties, according to Ukrainian troops and observers.

After years of commitment and deliberation, only a handful of F-16 fighter jets landed in Ukraine last summer.

“When we fight back (in early 2023), when we have the manpower and ammunition, we need aircraft,” a seriously wounded Ukrainian soldier who remains on the front line told Al Jazeera.

Due to Trump's pressure on Republican lawmakers, the US$61 billion aid plan was shelved for months and was not approved until April 2024.

The delay cost thousands of lives in Ukraine, while Russian forces regained the initiative and continued to advance eastward, albeit slowly and with heavy losses, the soldier said.

"People lost their lives, fewer people were fighting, but the ammunition did not increase. That's why (the Russians) kept pushing," the serviceman said.

Trump has repeatedly said he would end the war "within 24 hours," but has never detailed his plans.

However, his team has suggested he may let Russia keep the four occupied Ukrainian regions as well as much of Crimea.

They may also insist on banning Ukraine from NATO for years or decades.

Rubio: 'It's impossible' for Ukraine to fight off Russia

Marco Rubio, Trump's pick as secretary of state, said on Wednesday that both Russia and Ukraine would need to make "concessions" - and that Moscow might keep occupied areas.

"There's no way Ukraine can push these people all the way back to where they were on the eve of the invasion," Rubio said.

Lieutenant General Ihor Romanenko, former deputy chief of staff of Ukraine's armed forces, said Trump "must come clean" after months of silence about his "peace plan."

"It is time to take responsibility for his words," he told Al Jazeera.

Romanenko believes that Trump’s “24-hour plan” is likely to evolve into “a very difficult process that will take up to six months.”

Banning Kiev from joining NATO and the European Union could trigger a crisis among Ukraine's pro-Western politicians, who have for decades urged voters to abandon the Moscow-dominated bloc.

In 2014, a violent months-long popular rebellion ousted pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych from power after he agreed to join a free trade area with Russia.

Kyiv-based analyst Alexey Kush told Al Jazeera that Ukraine's pro-Western agenda is largely based on the assumption that inevitable membership of NATO "solves our security problems and the EU takes care of our economic development".

Those aspirations, he said, were "the mantra of pro-Western liberal Democrats[who urge Ukrainians]to 'vote for us and we will soon lead Ukraine into the EU and NATO.'"

frontline battle

Before Trump took office, Ukrainian forces were losing ground on the eastern front and unable to expand into the tiny Kursk region in western Russia they control.

"This will have a very negative impact on the new US government's ability to demonstrate our ability to defend ourselves," journalist-turned-soldier Yuri Butusov wrote on Facebook on Wednesday.

However, on Tuesday night, Kiev launched its largest drone attack on Russian military infrastructure, involving more than 200 drones.

For the first time, they carried glide bombs, which were released a few kilometers before the drone reached its target.

The attack damaged fuel depots and refineries in the Volga region that produce rare brands of fuel for Russian strategic bombers launching missiles into Ukraine.

"That is why it is so important to strike at the refineries that produce it," military analyst Pavlo Narozny said in televised remarks.