Could this be the year, as President-elect Donald J. Trump has promised, that Russia’s war against Ukraine will be brought to an end?

The prospect of peace brings “tears to my eyes,” said Valeria, 30, an English teacher from eastern Ukraine.

As As Mr Trump prepares to return to the White House on Monday, he promises peace in Ukrainebut publicly offering no strategy for how to achieve this – other than his expressed desire to meet with Russian President Vladimir V. Putin. So Ukrainians can only guess what the coming months will bring.

No one, said Valeria, wants peace more than Ukrainians. But after so much loss, with hundreds of thousands dead and injured, Ukrainians will not accept peace at any price, she said. She asked that her last name not be used out of fear for the safety of her father, who still lives under Russian occupation.

“Europe and America must remember that any ceasefire or negotiations will only be legitimate if they respect the sacrifices made by Ukrainians and ensure a just, secure and independent future for Ukraine,” she said.

Since Mr. Trump won re-election in November, The New York Times spoke with dozens of Ukrainians — soldiers on the front lines, villagers forced from their homes and people in cities far from the battlefield but exposed to missile bombardment — about their hope and fears before his inauguration.

Many people are feeling frustrated — bitter about what some see as an overly cautious approach by the Biden administration and that they suffered months of delays in receiving US military aid last year after it was suspended in Congress. The war still rages, and Ukraine faces a powerful adversary and is deeply dependent on American military support.

The Trump administration, most agree, will bring about change. But many worry that the change will not be good, especially if military aid is withheld.

“Some say this is the end for Ukraine,” said Anna, 29, an artist who asked not to use her last name because she is worried about Russians harassing her online. “But because I consider him an unstable person,” she said of Mr. Trump, “I can’t say for sure.”

“I hope for justice and that Russia will face the consequences for everything it has done,” she added.

On the front lines, soldiers often say that they are not only defending their home, but are standing as a shield protecting the rest of Europe from the revanchist Russian regime.

Major Yaroslav Galas, 53, who serves in the 128th Transcarpathian Mountain Assault Brigade, said he thought Mr Trump’s desire to be seen as the winner would ultimately ensure support for Ukraine.

“Trump understands that Russia’s victory and Ukraine’s defeat is a defeat for the United States and his personal defeat as president,” he said. “This is how the world would see it.”

Andrii, 44, a military intelligence officer fighting in Russia’s Kursk region, said every Ukrainian had experienced so much horror that the end of the war could not come soon enough.

“War is terrifying and it needs to end,” he said, asking that his last name not be used in accordance with military protocol for soldiers being interviewed at the front. “Maybe Trump will do something about it.”

But if Mr. Trump withholding military support as a way to pressure Kiev to accept a bad deal, he said, may not work out the way he expects.

“It’s going to be bad,” he said. “It will turn into a guerilla war.”

“We will not give up,” he said. “Many good people will die.”

Andrii was a local businessman in the border town of Sumy when the Russians invaded in February 2022. He hid his four children, he said, picked up a gun and has hardly put it down since.

“We organized ourselves and started to fight against them,” he said. “We pushed them out of the city, set up checkpoints, but they didn’t pass. There was no government, only ordinary people who organized and did it.”

While political struggles and social tensions within Ukraine have grown since the beginning of the war, he believed that people would gather again in the event of a catastrophic collapse of the front.

At a cemetery in the suburbs of Sumy this month, row after row of blue and gold Ukrainian flags fluttered in the cold wind.

Kateryna Zakharuk, 25, sat next to the grave of her husband Ivan.

When their village was occupied by Russian forces in the early days of the war, he teamed up with friends to fight behind enemy lines, burning Russian ammunition depots and even capturing one prisoner, she said.

The Russians were driven back across the border, and Ivan joined the army. He was killed on February 17, 2024.

Ms. Zakharuk visits his grave every week, she said.

“My friend’s brother, who was also John’s friend, is buried there,” she said, pointing to the tombstone. “My cousin is buried there. A boy from my village was buried there. There are so many famous people here.”

She has seen Russian forces lay waste to entire cities, leaving nothing but ashes, and worries that Sumy could suffer the same fate without American support.

“Not only have human lives been destroyed,” she said, “but all memories have been destroyed.”

Valeria, an English teacher, said her hometown had already been devastated. Her family is from Kreminna, in eastern Ukraine, which has been occupied by Russian forces since the beginning of the war.

Her father is still there; she hadn’t seen him in years.

“I don’t know if I’ll ever see him again,” she said. “As cynical as it sounds, even though he’s alive, part of me has already said goodbye to him.”

She said she didn’t know what Mr. Trump does, but hopes that Ukraine “will have a primary voice in such serious decisions as our future, especially on matters of war and peace.”

“Unfortunately,” she said, “there is a growing feeling that the fate of Ukrainian citizens is often discussed without our participation.”

Ljubov Soludko and Anna Lukinova contributed reporting.