We don't know if it is a game by Trump...his praise of Putin is like slap in the gace

AS UKRAINIANS marked St Valentine's Day, the mood in the capital resembled that of a jilted lover rather than the celebration of a healthy relationship.

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AS UKRAINIANS marked St Valentine's Day, the mood in the capital resembled that of a jilted lover rather than the celebration of a healthy relationship.

Following a flurry of controversial statements aired by the Trump administration, Kyiv has been left feeling as though it has been dumped by its once-erstwhile ally in its ongoing battle to survive as a nation against Russia's war machine.

Ivan Kobrin, a 28-year-old IT worker, says: "I'm a little bit shocked. I do not know if it is a game. But what he is saying I do not like." Particularly galling, he says, is Trump's public sympathy for Russian losses, both future and past, while Ukraine continues to be occupied and attacked.

"He is repeating the Russian narrative, Russian propaganda," says Kobrin.

With his mother and grandmother still living in Sumy region, on the border with Russia, Kobrin is concerned his home town may again be invaded by Russian forces.

"How can we be sure that everything will be OK? I cannot imagine how the security measures will work." Many here in Kyiv had long suspected Ukraine's relationship with Washington would go from romantic to realistic with the election of Trump. Some hoped he'd be more forceful than his predecessor. Few expected such a naked about-face in US rhetoric.

Dumped