While the US votes, Ukraine's future hangs in the balance

As she sweeps up broken glass outside her store, Inna knows that her country's future lies in the hands of Americans voting more than 5,000 miles away.

“We hope the woman, Kamala Harris, wins and supports us,” she said.

A Russian bomb had shattered their shop windows – a common occurrence in the city of Zaporizhzhia. There is a 10 meter wide crater in the middle of the road.

“Of course we are worried about the outcome [of the election]“, she adds. “We want to defeat the enemy!”

For Ukraine to have even a remote chance of doing so, it needs US help.

Here in 2023, on this southeastern part of the front line, Ukraine launched a counteroffensive that it hoped would drive out the Russian invaders.

Instead, after little to no progress, Ukraine's ambitions have shifted to survival. Rockets and glide bombs hit cities every day, and soldiers constantly endure Russian attacks.

While Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris has indicated that military aid would continue if she emerges victorious, her powers could be limited by a Republican-led Congress. And it is less likely that the pipeline of military support, which so far amounts to more than $50 billion, can be maintained in a second term of Donald Trump.

Whoever becomes the next U.S. president will have a profound impact on Ukraine's borders and everyone who lives within them.

For example, if they forced Ukraine to give up land and freeze the front lines, regions like Zaporizhzhia could suddenly be divided like North and South Korea after the armistice in the 1950s that ended hostilities but never officially ended the war there .

Trump said he would “work something out” to resolve the war and suggested Ukraine may have to give up some land.

A second option for the US would be to end its support entirely, which would mean that over time Russian forces could overrun the entire region and even more of Ukraine.

The third scenario of a complete liberation of the occupied territories by Ukraine is becoming increasingly unlikely.

It is this lack of progress on the battlefield that is increasingly debating the merits of supporting Ukrainian troops like Andriy across the Atlantic.

He is responsible for his unit's fleet of U.S. armored vehicles at the front. When not being used to move soldiers, they sit under camouflage netting at tree lines.

“When assistance stops or slows down, the burden falls on the shoulders of the infantry,” he explains. “We will fight with what we have, but everyone knows that Ukraine cannot do it alone.”

Andriy and his compatriots in Ukraine are eagerly awaiting the vote in the USA on November 5th. Insecurity is suppressing ambitions on the battlefield and thwarting political efforts to secure more aid.

Western allies often look to America's example when deciding how or whether to support Kiev's war effort.

“When we hear that a candidate who is less willing to help us is ahead in the polls, it is worrying and frustrating,” says Andriy. “But we’re not going anywhere.”

In the middle of the autumn farmland, the soldiers like to demonstrate their American equipment – drones, grenade launchers and mounted machine guns.

All are far superior to their Soviet-era alternatives, they say.

Whether it's about Ukraine's natural resources or business ventures, President Zelensky is also trying to promote his country to his allies as an investment opportunity.

Drone pilot Serhiy explains how they can give direct feedback to Western manufacturers.

“We have an online chat with them and make suggestions,” he says with a grin. “There are already improvements.”

As drone construction shows, the war in Ukraine is forcing innovation at home. It also allows Western companies to test their products in an active war zone.

Billions of dollars in Western aid have also spurred reforms in some areas of government. Kiev wants to show that it is a horse worth supporting.

The question is whether this progress will be overshadowed by a conflict that is increasingly moving towards Russia.

Since an army is usually only as strong as its society, we set out to meet someone who has experienced Russia's brutality first hand.

Lyubov's daughter and grandchildren fled to the United States at the start of the full-scale invasion.

We last met two years ago in her front-line village of Komyshuvakha, after the invading forces destroyed her house.

This time she seemed happier, despite having lived near the fighting for so long. In the warm atmosphere of her new apartment, I ask her whether Ukraine should negotiate an end to the war.

“What about those who gave their lives?” she replies. “I see the end of the war only when we reach the borders of our country in 1991, when Crimea, Luhansk and Donetsk were ours.”

Ukrainian news shows are reporting almost endlessly on the US election, with predictions of war based on the potential winner.

Kamala Harris is undoubtedly Ukraine's preferred candidate, and journalists are trying to combat Russian disinformation against her.

But in the south and east of Ukraine there are a growing number of people who want an immediate end to the war and see a Donald Trump presidency as the best chance for a reprieve.

We spoke to many of these people around the embattled eastern city of Pokrovsk, where Russian troops are closing in.

The feeling here is that Ukraine should have negotiated at the start of the all-out invasion to prevent the death and destruction it has seen since.

Both sides held talks in the first months of 2022. But evidence of alleged Russian war crimes halted diplomatic attempts and strengthened Ukraine's resolve to keep fighting.

“Death is not worth territory,” as one woman put it. “We have to stop this war, and Trump is the person who knows how to do it.”

For some, eleven years of Russian aggression is enough.

This is not an open opinion for politicians in the Ukrainian parliament. While there is still bipartisan support for the fight to continue, President Zelensky's “victory plan” has been criticized for not having a clearer timetable.

As for Lyubov, she certainly didn't want to express her preference for who should win the White House:

“I want a true friend of Ukraine to win who will continue to support us. But I can’t tell you who it will be.”

As much as I admire Lyubov's inner strength, it reflects an increasingly popular and uncomfortable contradiction: the desire for Russia's defeat and, at the same time, the desire to end the bloodshed as quickly as possible.

The pendulum between US interventionism and isolationism is being closely observed and felt in Ukraine.

Since voting overwhelmingly for independence during the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Ukraine has had to fight for its sovereignty.

It finds itself on the edge of a geopolitical tectonic plate, trying to join the West while Russia pulls it in the other direction.

Moscow's all-out invasion means Ukraine needs America's helping hand to prevent it from being torn apart.

Additional reporting by Hanna Chornous, Sara Monetta and Hanna Tsyba

Leading up to the US election on November 5, BBC correspondents around the world are exploring what impact the result could have where they are and what people around the world think of this White House campaign.