Many weary Ukrainians long for an end to the war but now fear it will come on unfavorable terms

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — After nearly three years of living under constant threat of Russian airstrikes while their troops fight a grinding campaign against Russia's invasion, many Ukrainians long for an end to the war — but now fear it could come on unfavorable terms.

Top U.S. and Russian officials plan to meet Tuesday in Saudi Arabia to discuss an end to the war — without Kyiv's participation — rankling some Ukrainians who worry they will be sidelined.

“We are being destroyed, Ukraine is suffering, Ukraine is fighting. And our president does not participate?" Lidiia Odyntsova, 71, said with disbelief of the upcoming talks. "We are the victims. We should play first fiddle in these talks.”

Standing with tears in her eyes beside a snow-covered memorial to fallen Ukrainian soldiers in central Kyiv, she said: “I will not forgive them! I will never forgive!“

While Ukraine will not take part in Tuesday's talks, U.S. State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said any actual peace negotiations would only take place with Ukraine’s involvement.

Still, many Ukrainians are watching a barrage of developments from the United States with apprehension. Ukrainian social media has been flooded with posts reflecting deep unease, and many remain anxiously glued to their phones for updates.

U.S. President Donald Trump last week sent shockwaves across both sides of the Atlantic after he agreed by phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin to begin negotiations — abruptly upending a longstanding U.S.-led effort to isolate Moscow over its invasion. That came the same day that U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said NATO membership for Ukraine was unrealistic and suggested Kyiv should abandon hopes of winning all its territory back from Russia, signaling a view of a potential settlement that is remarkably close to Moscow’s.

Ukraine, which has been slowly losing ground to Russia’s larger army, was already facing a difficult negotiating position, and Hegseth's comments poured cold water on two key Ukrainian aspirations. While support for an end to the fighting among the country's war-wearied population is widespread, there remains broad agreement that it must not come at the expense of those living in territories occupied by Russia or at the risk of future incursions by Moscow.

Speaking to Fox News Channel’s “Sunday Morning Futures” program, U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff didn’t directly respond to a question about whether Ukraine would have to give up a “significant portion” of its territory. “Those are details, and I’m not dismissive of the details, they’re important. But I think the beginning here is trust-building,” he said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has dismissed the upcoming talks, saying they would “yield no results” given the absence of Ukrainian officials.

Valerii Semenii, a 59-year-old fighting with Ukraine’s armed forces, meanwhile, said he feared the worst.

“Trump is marching towards a world war, because the aggressor cannot be pacified,” Semenii said. “He does not know history, because maybe today you will pacify (Putin), but tomorrow it will provoke a world war. There is nothing else I can say about these negotiations.”

That sentiment reflected fears by many in Ukraine’s government and population that bringing an end to the fighting without building a lasting security infrastructure to prevent any future Russian aggression would allow Moscow time to regroup and launch future attacks, both in Ukraine and the wider region.

“We have to understand that Russia is a danger not only for Ukraine,” said Oleksandr Shyrshyn, a battalion commander fighting in the Russian region of Kursk, where Ukrainians troops have occupied some territory but suffered heavy losses. European countries "have to have a part in this negotiation as well because, as we see, all Europe is afraid of Russia and they don’t want the same scenario that we have.”

Shyrshyn said he thought both of Ukraine's major goals — the restoration of its Russian-occupied territories and membership in the NATO military alliance — would be attainable if the Trump administration “would support us with all their power."

“If the USA is not willing to support us, we will have more deaths, more losses," he said, "but we will continue to fight, because it’s a question of our existence.”

Associated Press journalists Hanna Arhirova, Volodymyr Yurchuk and Yehor Konovalov contributed.

FILE - U.S. President Donald Trump shakes hands with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the end of a news conference at the Presidential Palace in Helsinki, Finland, on July 16, 2018. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, File)

FILE - President Donald Trump meets with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at Trump Tower, Sept. 27, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, File)

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, left, attends a meeting with United States Vice-President JD Vance on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference in Munich, Germany, Friday, Feb. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)

In this photo provided by Ukraine's 24th Mechanised Brigade press service, Ukrainian servicemen prepare to fire an MRLS BM-21 'Grad' towards Russian army positions near Chasiv Yar, Donetsk region, Ukraine, Saturday, Feb. 15, 2025. (Oleg Petrasiuk/Ukraine's 24th Mechanised Brigade via AP)

In this photo provided by Ukraine's 24th Mechanised Brigade press service, Ukrainian servicemen fire an MRLS BM-21 'Grad' towards Russian army positions near Chasiv Yar, Donetsk region, Ukraine, Saturday, Feb. 15, 2025. (Oleg Petrasiuk/Ukraine's 24th Mechanised Brigade via AP)

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Days of unrelenting downpours swelled rivers to near record levels across Kentucky on Monday, submerging neighborhoods and threatening a famed bourbon distillery in the state capital.

Inundated rivers posed the latest threat from persistent storms that have killed at least 23 people — 10 in Tennessee — since last week as they doused the region with heavy rain and spawned destructive tornadoes. Though the storms have finally moved on, the flood danger likewise remains high in several other states, including parts of Tennessee, Arkansas and Indiana.

Cities ordered evacuations and rescue crews in inflatable boats checked on residents in Kentucky and Tennessee, while utilities shut off power and gas in a region stretching from Texas to Ohio. Floodwaters forced the closure of the historic Buffalo Trace Distillery, close to the banks of the swollen Kentucky River near downtown Frankfort, Kentucky.

Salon owner Jessica Tuggle watched Monday as murky brown water approached her Frankfort business. She and her friends had moved her salon gear — styling chairs, hair products and electronics — to a nearby taproom.

“Everybody was just, ‘stop raining, stop raining,’ so we could get an idea of what the worst situation would be,” she said.

Officials diverted traffic and turned off utilities to businesses in Frankfort as the river crested just short of a record Monday. More than 500 state roads across Kentucky were still closed Monday morning, Gov. Andy Beshear said.

Ashley Welsh, her husband, four children and pets had to leave their Frankfort home along the river Saturday evening, abandoning a lifetime of belongings to the floodwaters.

When she checked her house’s cameras Sunday morning, the water had risen to the second floor.

“My stuff was floating around in the living room. I was just heartbroken. Our life is up there,” Welsh said.

Twenty-three deaths have been reported since the storms began Wednesday. Among the four confirmed killed in Kentucky, a 9-year-old boy in Kentucky was caught up in floodwaters while walking to catch his school bus. A 5-year-old boy in Arkansas died after a tree fell on his family’s home, police said. A 16-year-old volunteer Missouri firefighter died in a crash while seeking to rescue people caught in the storm.

A Carroll County, Tennessee, electric department lineman died while working in the storms, state emergency management officials said.

Kentucky State Police said Monday that they recovered the body of a McCracken County man swept away by floodwaters Sunday while trying to retrieve his boat. And Beshear reported the flood-related death of a Trigg County man Monday.

The Arkansas Division of Emergency confirmed the death of a man found by the Sherwood Fire Department in a submerged vehicle.

Two men sitting in a golf cart, a father and son, were killed when a tree fell on them at a golf course in Columbus, Georgia, according to Muscogee County Coroner Buddy Bryan.

The Kentucky River crested at Frankfort Lock at 48.27 feet (14.71 meters) Monday, just shy of the record of 48.5 feet (14.8 meters) set there on Dec. 10, 1978, according to CJ Padgett, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s Louisville, Kentucky, office.

Beshear said more than 1,000 people had no access to water and nearly 3,000 were under boil water advisories. The city of Harrodsburg about 30 miles (48 kilometers) south of Frankfort said on social media that its water system had to discontinue pumping around midnight because of flood levels on the Kentucky River. Bottled water was being handed out Monday.

John and Phyllis Sower hunkered down about a half-block from the river in their Frankfort home, which had about 4 feet (122 centimeters) of water in the cellar. A neighbor waded over Monday to bring them flowers on their front porch.

“We are an island in the Kentucky River,” Phyllis Sower said.

In northeastern Arkansas, Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders called the scene “absolutely heartbreaking” around the town of Hardy, which took damage to its city hall and other buildings. Sanders and local officials vowed to rebuild.

West Memphis, Arkansas, Fire Chief Barry Ealy told WREG-TV that crews in the flood-prone city have rescued more than 100 people.

A tornado destroyed more than 100 structures in McNairy County, Tennessee, tearing through the town of Selmer with winds estimated up to 160 mph (257 kph), local emergency management officials said. State officials say severe weather killed five people in the county of roughly 26,100 residents.

Though significant rains have ended in the Southern Plains and the Mississippi, Tennessee and Ohio valleys, flooding on most rivers will persist this week, with some smaller waterways receding in the next few days, according to the weather service.

Forecasters attributed the violent weather to warm temperatures, an unstable atmosphere, strong winds and abundant moisture streaming from the Gulf.

The NWS said 5 inches (13 centimeters) of rain fell Saturday in Jonesboro, Arkansas — making it the wettest day ever recorded in April in the city. Memphis, Tennessee, got 14 inches (35 centimeters) of rain from Wednesday to Sunday, the NWS said.

Marshall County in western Kentucky received nearly 16 inches (41 centimeters) over the last five days, said Padgett, the meteorologist. Parts of central Kentucky received 10 to 12 inches (25 to 30 centimeters) over those days and eastern Kentucky received 6 to 8 inches (15 to 20 centimeters), Padgett said.

The storms come after the Trump administration cut jobs at NWS forecast offices, leaving half of them with vacancy rates of about 20%, or double the level of a decade ago.

Contributing to this report were Associated Press writers Anthony Izaguirre in New York; Kimberlee Kruesi and Jonathan Mattise, in Nashville, Tennessee; Andrew DeMillo in Little Rock, Arkansas; Sarah Brumfield in Cockeysville, Maryland; Rebecca Reynolds in Louisville, Kentucky; Jeff Amy in Atlanta; Adrian Sainz in Memphis; Tennessee; and Obed Lamy in Rives, Tennessee.

In an aerial view, a bourbon barrel floats on the floodwaters of the Buffalo Trace Distillery on Monday, April 7, 2025, in Frankfort, Ky. (AP Photo/Jon Cherry)

In an aerial view, the flooded Buffalo Trace Distillery is seen on Monday, April 7, 2025, in Frankfort, Ky. (AP Photo/Jon Cherry)

A flooded structure is seen on Monday, April 7, 2025, in Frankfort, Ky. (AP Photo/Jon Cherry)

Azariah Boone, of Owenton, Ky, looks out over debris and rising floodwater from the Kentucky River washing up Crittenden Street, Monday, April 7, 2025, in Gratz, Ky. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Water seeps through a flood wall on Monday, April 7, 2025, in Frankfort, Ky. (AP Photo/Jon Cherry)

In an aerial view, the flooded Buffalo Trace Distillery is seen on Monday, April 7, 2025, in Frankfort, Ky. (AP Photo/Jon Cherry)

A mobile home park floods where rising waters of the Little Sugar Creek meet the Ohio River, Monday, April 7, 2025, in Napoleon, Ky. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Buildings in a flooded downtown area are seen on Monday, April 7, 2025, in Frankfort, Ky. (AP Photo/Jon Cherry)

The rising Ohio River floods along Lower River Road, Monday, April 7, 2025, in Rabbit Hash, Ky. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

The Buffalo Trace Distillery in Frankfort, Ky., is seen amid floodwaters on Monday, April 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Kristin M. Hall)

Camp Turn-A-Bout is flooded by the rising Ohio River at the Gunpowder Creek, Monday, April 7, 2025, in Union, Ky. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Camp Turn-A-Bout is flooded by the rising Ohio River at the Gunpowder Creek, Monday, April 7, 2025, in Union, Ky. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Camp Turn-A-Bout is flooded by the rising Ohio River at the Gunpowder Creek, Monday, April 7, 2025, in Union, Ky. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

A boy looks on as people ride a boat down a flooded road on Sunday, April 6, 2025, in Frankfort, Ky. (AP Photo/Jon Cherry)

A Canada goose flies along the rising Ohio River at the flooded Anderson Ferry ramp Monday, April 7, 2025, in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Dale Bardes, the oldest resident of Rabbit Hash, Ky., drives on the edge of the rising Ohio River floodwaters as he checks the water levels near the Rabbit Hash General Store on Lower River Road, Monday, April 7, 2025, in Rabbit Hash, Ky. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Dale Bardes, the oldest resident of Rabbit Hash, Ky., drives on the edge of the rising Ohio River floodwaters as he checks the water levels near the Rabbit Hash General Store on Lower River Road, Monday, April 7, 2025, in Rabbit Hash, Ky. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

The rising Ohio River floods along Lower River Road, Monday, April 7, 2025, in Rabbit Hash, Ky. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

The rising Ohio River floods along Lower River Road, Monday, April 7, 2025, in Rabbit Hash, Ky. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

The rising Ohio River floods along Lower River Road, Monday, April 7, 2025, in Rabbit Hash, Ky. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

The rising Ohio River partially submerges the bronze statue of James Bradley along Riverside Drive, Sunday, April 6, 2025, in Covington, Ky. Cincinnati and the John A. Roebling Suspension Bridge are seen across the Ohio River. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

A Canadian goose swims in the rising Ohio River at the intersection of River Riverside Place and Ben Bernstein Place, Sunday, April 6, 2025, in Covington, Ky., across the river from Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Carole Smith walks through her flooded home on Saturday, April 5, 2025, in Frankfort, Ky. (AP Photo/Jon Cherry)

Search and rescue firefighters carry a boat to a flooded neighborhood on Sunday, April 6, 2025, in Frankfort, Ky. (AP Photo/Jon Cherry)

A flooded neighborhood is seen on Sunday, April 6, 2025, in Frankfort, Ky. (AP Photo/Jon Cherry)

Road crews work to clear Lee County Rd. 681 in Saltillo, Miss, Sunday, April 6, 2025, of downed trees that blocked the road following the severe weather that passed through the area Saturday night. (Thomas Wells /The Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal via AP)

CORRECTS TO MICHAEL NOT MICHALE Michael Scott Memering looks out of his trailer after evacuating the Licking River RV Campground that was flooded by the rising waters of the Licking River, seen behind, Sunday, April 6, 2025, in Falmouth, Ky. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Bill Jones pulls his boat ashore, filled with bottles of bourbon, from a flooded home near the banks of the Kentucky River on Sunday, April 6, 2025, in Frankfort, Ky. (AP Photo/Jon Cherry)

Search and rescue firefighters conduct wellness checks in a neighborhood on Sunday, April 6, 2025, in Frankfort, Ky. (AP Photo/Jon Cherry)

Abner Wagers stands near flooded homes in the rising waters of the Kentucky River in Monterey, Ky,. Sunday, April 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

The flooded downtown area is seen on Sunday, April 6, 2025, in Frankfort, Ky. (AP Photo/Jon Cherry)

Search and rescue firefighters speak to a resident in a flooded neighborhood on Sunday, April 6, 2025, in Frankfort, Ky. (AP Photo/Jon Cherry)

A group of people survey damage at Pounders Mobile Home Park following a strong line of storms in the area in Muscle Shoals, Ala, Sunday, April 6, 2025. (Dan Busey/The TimesDaily via AP)

Search and rescue firefighters conduct wellness checks in a neighborhood on Sunday, April 6, 2025, in Frankfort, Ky. (AP Photo/Jon Cherry)

Abner Wagers walks in the rising waters of the Kentucky River on a flooded Monterey Pike in Monterey, Ky., Sunday, April 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Abner Wagers, right, and Brayden Baker, both with the Monterey Volunteer Fire Department, walk in the rising waters of the Kentucky River near a flooded home in Monterey, Ky., Sunday, April 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

the rising waters of Cedar Creek and the Kentucky River overflow their banks, Sunday, April 6, 2025, in Monterey, Ky. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)