A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
Some of the people paying particularly close attention to the meeting between President Trump and Vladimir Putin are the Ukrainians living in Alaska. We spoke with a few of them.
YULIIA MAIBA: I remain cautiously optimistic about everything that's happening.
MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
That's Yuliia Maiba. She came to Alaska in 2023 with her two daughters. And like many Ukrainian refugees, she says she's stuck in a limbo with no home to return to because of the war.
MAIBA: Even though it's overwhelming, and at times, it can be exhausting to be at the spot where we are at right now. But still, I'm hopeful that this will open the door to bigger and better changes in the future.
MARTÍNEZ: Zori Opanasevych is the executive director of the Ukraine Relief Program. That's a resettlement nonprofit in Alaska that works with Ukrainians living in the state. That's about 1,300 people.
ZORI OPANASEVYCH: We have to believe that something good will come of this. We are desperate. We're in a very desperate position. And any movement for a potential ceasefire, we'll hold on to it and have faith that something good will come of it.
MARTIN: Ukrainians from outside the state also flew in. Julian Hayda is a Ukrainian American from Chicago working with a nonprofit, Razom for Ukraine.
JULIAN HAYDA: I came to Anchorage because the Ukrainian government is not being represented in the conversation between Presidents Trump and Putin. And we felt that the Ukrainian civil society voice was essential.
MARTÍNEZ: If the summit was to lead to a ceasefire, Hayda says it should be a just one.
HAYDA: And a ceasefire does not, as previous ceasefires, lead to a regrouping of forces on the Russian side.
MARTIN: Outside of the summit, Opanasevych says she will continue to support Ukrainians in Alaska with a pinch of optimism.
OPANASEVYCH: We have to find something that could end this and just hold on to it. And, you know, it didn't work the first time, but what if it does this time?
MARTÍNEZ: Organizers say they are expecting to see a number of rallies in support of the people of Ukraine taking place all across the state. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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