After Trump took office, Ukrainians are skeptical that he will be able to end the war quickly. Some wished he had
In 2022, more than 20 families who fled Mariupol in eastern Ukraine will be housed in a new apartment building in Kyiv, where old photos of the city hang on the walls. Bloody siege of Russia and subsequent occupation.
There are images and photos of the manicured grounds of the drama theater that sheltered hundreds of people when it was destroyed by a Russian airstrike on March 16, 2022.
For 46-year-old Olena Bespalova, they are images of the city she once loved but knew she couldn’t bear to return to because she spent the worst moments of her life there.
They are reminders of life before the brutal war that he had to end.
“I think a peace agreement is necessary,” Bespalova told CBC News from her room in her apartment complex in Kiev. I think now there is a chance to stop the war.”
Uncertainty with Trump
Bespalova, like other Ukrainians, has lived through a full-scale occupation for nearly three years and is now waiting to see how the new US president will follow through on his promises and declarations to quickly end the devastating and costly war of attrition. .
Donald Trump, who was elected on November 5, had previously promised to end the war in Ukraine within 24 hours, and sometimes even said that he could resolve it. before taking the oathwithout ever suggesting how.
While he and his team have pulled back from bragging about a quick resolution, Trump’s representative in the region still has a goal in mind. 100 days to come up with a peace deal, and the president plans to meet with the leaders of Ukraine and Russia immediately after Monday’s inauguration.
In Ukraine, talk of Trump evokes mixed feelings, including hope, trepidation and doubt.
Some fear that he secured the US government during his time about US$70 billion The provision of military aid from February 22, 2024 could force Kiev to accept painful territorial concessions as part of a peace deal.
Others doubt that Trump can salvage any kind of talks, because they believe that Russia, which now has momentum on the battlefield, is unwilling to negotiate and that President Vladimir Putin cannot be trusted to follow through even if a deal is reached. .
Others hope that a man who has spent his life portraying himself as a skilled dealmaker and has met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky twice since September can find some negotiated solution to stop the bloodshed.
“I just want our boys not to die,” Bespalova said. “There is territory … but human life, I think, is the most important thing.”
Olena Bespalova had to flee her home for safety. Her husband was later wounded in the fight. Now he is one of the Ukrainians open to the idea of ​​territorial concessions to end the war.
Increased losses
Bespalova’s husband, who is on the front line in the Kharkiv region of northeastern Ukraine, is currently injured in a hospital near Kiev. He was assigned to an air defense team, but then transferred to an infantry unit to help on the coast of the front near Kharkov.
Ukraine says that more than 40,000 of its soldiers were killed on the 1,000-kilometer front line. US officials believe tThe Russian army has lost more than 100,000 soldiers in the fighting as it prepares to send waves of men directly into the line of fire.
With the Ukrainian army short of troops and retreating in the southeast, surveys show that the number is increasing Ukrainians are willing to give up their territory, at least temporarily, if the West implements security guarantees, such as an invitation to join NATO or the creation of a peacekeeping force on the ground.
Russia is currently under occupation One fifth of the territory of UkraineIncluding Crimea, which it illegally annexed in 2014.
Ukraine has captured several hundred square kilometers of territory in the Kursk region of Russia, and Moscow is trying to return this region with the help of several thousand soldiers. North Korea.
“More people are becoming pragmatic,” said Anton Hrushetskyi, executive director of the organization. Kyiv International Institute of Sociology is a private company that conducts public opinion polls.
“If we can’t get all the necessary weapons and more effective sanctions against Russia, perhaps, unfortunately, we will have to accept some kind of peace agreement.”
Changing public opinion
Hrushetsky’s team polled 2,000 Ukrainians by telephone over a two-week period in December to find out their views on a range of topics, including the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the European Union and the negotiations. Ukrainians living in territories occupied by Russia, as well as Ukrainians who moved out of the country after the occupation, were not included in the survey.
His team found that 38 percent of respondents agreed that Ukraine “could give up some of its territory” in order to achieve peace as soon as possible and preserve the country’s independence.
51 percent disagreed, and 11 percent answered “it’s hard to say.”
The number of Ukrainians open to some kind of territorial concessions has increased markedly since 2023, when 19 percent supported the idea.
Katerina Sachevska, 55, lives down the hall from Bespalova, sharing a room with five members of her family, including her 84-year-old mother in a wheelchair.
He thinks Trump will force Ukraine to negotiate, and says a peace deal may require leaving Mariupol in Russian hands, but he’s confident it will be temporary.
“Understand this,” said Sachevska. “At some point we will get it back.”
A few details about the peace plan
Trump has not said how he plans to try to negotiate a peace settlement, but members of his team have hinted at their vision. Marco RubioTrump’s choice for secretary of state will have to make compromises on both sides, he said.
Retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg, Trump’s Ukraine and Russia envoy, 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-authored the report last year The best way forward for peace is to freeze the conflict along the current front and bring Russia to the table with the promise of Ukraine’s long-term withdrawal from NATO membership.
Trump said he can understand why Russia is against it The possibility of Ukraine joining NATO and plans are in place for him to meet Putin.
High hopes for Trump
While Trump’s unpredictability has left many unsure of exactly how he will affect the war in Ukraine, Roman Kravtsov is among those who believe he will make a positive difference.
Kravtsov has two cafes in Kyiv called “Trump Coffee & Bar”. He launched the first site in 2019 and said he chose the name because he thought it was provocative and because he thought Trump was a “business master.”
Standing behind a bar serving coffee and cocktails, Kravtsov said that war will always have to end through negotiations.
“The only question is, what position will Ukraine, the United States and other countries take?”
Kravtsov said he believes Ukraine is far from Trump’s top priority, but he can work some “magic” when it comes to the seemingly intractable conflict.
The contract is questionable
Kostiantyn Rocktanen, 32, disagrees and has little faith in Trump, whom he thinks is nothing more than a populist.
The graphic designer spoke to CBC News at a popular bar in central Kyiv, sipping the only drink available, the popular cherry drink.
“There was a kind of stability with Biden, and now the uncertainty of what’s next is a little scary,” he said, referring to outgoing US President Joe Biden.
Rocktanen, who has so far managed to avoid being swept up in Ukraine’s mobilization race, said he fears being drafted and worries about being stopped by police officers while walking down the street.
He is not sure how the war will ultimately end, but he doubts Russia will protect any part of it even if there is an agreement.
“The reality shows that negotiations with the Russians are impossible,” Roktanen said. They only understand aggression and power.”
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