As Trump takes office, Ukrainians doubt that he can quickly end the war. Some wish he would
On the walls of a new building in Kyiv that will house more than 20 families who fled Mariupol in eastern Ukraine in 2022 hang pictures of the city before. The siege of Russian blood and the following work.
There are photos of renovated parks and a photo of the theater, which sheltered hundreds of people when it was destroyed in a Russian airstrike on March 16, 2022.
For Olena Bespalova, 46, images of the city she once loved but knew she could never return to because she endured the worst moments of her life there.
They are reminders of life before the devastating war he needs to end.
“I think a peace agreement is necessary,” Bespalova said in an interview with CBC News from her home in Kyiv. “I think there is now a chance to stop the war.”
Uncertainty about Trump
Bespalova, like other Ukrainians, has lived through nearly three years of total invasion and is now waiting to see how the new American president will follow through on his promises and declarations to quickly end what has become a devastating and costly war. .
Donald Trump, who was elected on November 5, previously vowed to end the war in Ukraine within 24 hours, at times even suggesting that he could resolve it. before taking the oathwithout suggesting how.
Although he and his team have backed away from boasting of a quick decision, Trump’s envoy to the region is still aiming to 100 days to come up with a peace deal, and the president plans to meet with the leaders of Ukraine and Russia shortly after his inauguration on Monday.
In Ukraine, talking about Trump creates a mix of emotions, including hope, trepidation and skepticism.
Some fear that under him, the US government, which has given about $70 billion in military aid since Feb. 22, 2024, he could force Kyiv to accept harsh territorial concessions as part of a peace deal.
Some doubt that Trump will be able to salvage any kind of negotiations because they believe that Russia, which is now the dominant force on the battlefield, does not want to negotiate and President Vladimir Putin cannot be trusted to follow through even if there is an agreement. .
Still others are hoping that the man who has spent his life calling himself a master negotiator – and has met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy twice since September – can broker some kind of negotiated settlement to stop the bloodshed.
“I just want our boys not to die,” said Bespalova. “There is a field … but human life, I think, is the most important thing.”
Olena Bespalova had to run away from home for safety. Her husband was wounded later in the war. Now he is one of a growing number of Ukrainians who are open to the idea of ​​a territorial concession to end the war.
The growing number of victims
Bespalova’s husband, who was previously stationed in the Kharkiv region of northeastern Ukraine, is currently lying wounded in a hospital near Kyiv. He was assigned to an air defense unit but was later transferred to an infantry unit to assist on the coastal front near Kharkiv.
Ukraine says more than 40,000 of its soldiers have been killed across the 1,000-kilometer front line, while US officials are cautious tThe Russian military hat has lost more than 100,000 of its soldiers in the war, because of its determination to continue sending waves of men directly into the line of fire.
With the Ukrainian army running low on troops and pushed back to the southeast, research shows that the number is increasing Ukrainians are willing to give up territory, at least temporarily, if the West uses security guarantees, such as an invitation to join NATO or the establishment of a peacekeeping force on the ground.
Russia currently takes approx one fifth of the territory of Ukraineincluding Crimea, which it illegally annexed in 2014.
Ukraine holds several hundred square kilometers in the Kursk region of Russia, which Moscow is trying to take back with the help of several thousand troops. North Korea.
“Many people are becoming rational,” said Anton Hrushetskyi, the organization’s executive director Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, a private company that conducts public opinion polls.
“If we can’t get all the necessary weapons and effective sanctions against Russia, then maybe, unfortunately, we have to accept a peace agreement.”
Changing public opinion
Hrushetskyi’s team surveyed 2,000 Ukrainians by telephone over a two-week period in December, gauging their views on a range of topics, including the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the European Union and negotiations. Those living in areas invaded by Russia, as well as Ukrainians who moved abroad after the invasion, were not included in this study.
His team found that 38 percent of respondents agreed that in order to quickly achieve peace and preserve the country’s independence, Ukraine “might give up some of its territory.”
51 percent disagreed, while 11 percent responded that it was “hard to say.”
The number of Ukrainians who are open to some kind of local permit jumped significantly from 2023, when at that time, 19 percent supported the idea.
Kateryna Sachevska, 55, who shares a house with five members of her family, including her 84-year-old wheelchair-bound mother, lives down the hall from Bespalova.
He thinks Trump will force Ukraine to negotiate and says a peace deal may require leaving Mariupol in Russian hands, but insists it will be temporary.
“This is straight,” said Sachevska. “At some point, we’ll take it back.”
A few details about the peace plan
Although Trump has not revealed how he plans to try to negotiate peace, members of his team have expressed their opinion. Marco Rubiowho was chosen by Trump for the position of secretary of state, said that the two sides will have to make an agreement.
Retired lieutenant-general Keith Kellogg, Trump’s ambassador to Ukraine and Russia, told Fox News earlier this month that Trump would come up with a “fair and just” plan.
Kellogg, who served as national security adviser to former vice president Mike Pence in the first Trump administration, co-wrote the report last year that suggested the best path to peace was to avoid further conflict and lure Russia to the table with a promise to deny Ukraine NATO membership for a long time.
Trump said he understood why Russia was against it Ukraine is likely to join NATO and that plans are in the works for him to meet Phuthini.
Hopes are high for Trump
Although Trump’s unpredictability has left many unsure of what impact he will have on the war in Ukraine, Roman Kravtsov is among those who believe he will make a positive difference.
Kravtsov owns two cafes in Kyiv called Trump Coffee & Bar. He opened the first site in 2019, saying he chose the name because he thought it was provocative and that Trump was a “business man”.
Standing behind a bar serving coffees and cocktails, including an orange drink called the Trump Sour, Kravtsov said the war must end through negotiations.
“The only question is what position will Ukraine, the United States and other countries take?”
Kravtsov said he believes Ukraine is a long way from Trump’s priority, but he can do some “magic” when it comes to the seemingly intractable conflict.
Doubt the deal
Kostiantyn Rocktanen, 32, does not agree with and does not trust Trump, whom he sees as nothing more than a philanthropist.
The artist spoke to CBC News at a popular bar in central Kyiv, where he drank the only drink available, cherry liqueur.
“With Biden, there was some stability, and now the uncertainty of what’s going to happen next is a little scary,” he said, referring to outgoing US President Joe Biden.
Rocktanen, who has managed to avoid being swept up in the campaign to mobilize Ukrainians, said he is afraid of being drafted and is afraid of being stopped by the police while walking on the street.
He is not sure how the war will end, but he said that even if there is an agreement, he doubts that Russia will keep its part.
“The reality shows that negotiations with the Russians are impossible,” said Rocktanen. “They only understand anger and power.”
Source link
