International
GhettoesRussians and Americans are talking again as European leaders and diplomats are considering the difficult choice forced by them by US President Donald Trump.
Undoubtedly, Trump's diplomatic ultimatum to Ukraine and the US Western European allies have broken through the Transatlantic Union, perhaps out of repair.
Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelenski seems to be shaken by the sudden change of attitude coming from the White House, although some of his many critics at home say he should have seen it. Well, before winning a re -election, Donald Trump made it clear that Joe Biden's policies would not continue.
When he arrived in Turkey on his last trip, Zelenski regrets the fact that negotiations to end war “behind the back of key parties affected by the effects of Russian aggression.”
But it feels like a long way from the air -conditioned room in Saudi Arabia, where Russian and US delegations confronted each other through a wide and highly polished mahogany mass, to the bitter cold of northeastern Ukraine.
In excavated and military bases here in the snowy villages and forests on the border with Russia, Ukrainian soldiers are engaged in business, as usual, the war.
In an underground bunker in a base in the forest somewhere near sums, an Ukrainian officer told me that he was not much time to follow the news. As for him, Donald Trump's decision to talk to Russian President Vladimir Putin was “just a noise.”
The commander, who asked to be named only by his White call sign, has more pressing questions to consider.
The neglect of the diplomatic bomb that shook Western leaders, as well as his own president, is probably the right thing for an officer on the battlefield, preparing to bring his people back into the match. Soon they will move back to Kursk to re -join the fight to preserve the land that Ukraine seized from Russia.
As a condition for access to Ukrainian soldiers, we agreed not to reveal precision places or identities, except to say that they are in the border areas around the city of sums and the whole part of Ukraine's continuing battle in Kursk.
In a small room in a workshop tucked away in the village, there was a great display of a killer force of shelves made of sawdust boards supported by wooden ammunition.
There were hundreds of drones on the shelves, all made in Ukraine. Each costs about £ 300 ($ 380). The soldiers who checked them before packing them in cardboard boxes to send them to the Kursk fields have said that when they are armed – and flew by a qualified pilot – they can even destroy a tank.
One of them, called Andrew, was a drone pilot until his foot was blowing. He said he did not think too much about what the Americans said – but none of them trusted President Vladimir Putin.
Their drones had destroyed a Russian armored unit a few hours earlier, which progressed in daylight through a frozen snow-covered field. They showed us the video. Some of the vehicles that hit the red flag of the Soviet Union instead of the Russian flag.
The amounts are busy enough during the day, with the stores open and well provided. But after it gets dark, the streets are almost empty. Air attack signals come often.
The opposite guns shoot firing in the sky for hours aimed at the waves of Russian drones, which cross the border near here to attack goals much deeper in Ukraine, sometimes in the sums itself.
A large block of apartments has a hole on three floors, pulled out of it. Eleven people were killed here in an attack on a Russian drone two weeks ago or more. Since then, the block has been evacuated as engineers fear it is so damaged that it can collapse.
It is part of a residential mansion of identical monumental blocks built during the Soviet era. Residents who still live up to the destroyed and dangerous building were engaged in their business, going to their shops or cars, stuck against the intense cold.
Mikola, a 50 -year -old man, stopped talking as he went home with his young son. He lives in the next block next to the one that the Russians destroyed.
I asked him what Donald Trump's idea of peace in Ukraine was thinking.
“We need peace,” he said. “It is necessary because there is no point in the war. The war does not lead to nothing. If you look at how many territory has occupied Russia so far, so that the Russians can eventually reach Kiev, they will have to continue to fight for 14 years.
But there is no deal that is not worthy that Mikola did not believe in Putin and Trump to sit together without Zelenski and Europeans.
33 -year -old Julia, another neighbor, was touring Jack Russell. She was home when the Russians attacked the block of apartments in the neighborhood.
“It all happened right at midnight when we were going to go to bed. We heard a strong explosion and saw a massive red flash out of our window. We saw that horror. It was very scary.
“Many people were out. And I remember there was a woman who was hanging out – she was screaming for help – we couldn't see her immediately, but in the end she was rescued by the debris.”
Peace is possible, she believes, “but they must first stop bombing us. There may only be peace when they stop doing it. It must come from them because they have started that horror.
“Of course, you can't trust Putin.”
While the last rays of the sun disappeared, Boris, spy and upright retired colonel of 70, who served for 30 years in the Soviet army, stopped on his way to his car. His son and grandson, he said, and they are both in uniform who fight for Ukraine.
“Peace is possible,” he said. “But I really don't believe it. I think justice will prevail for Ukraine. You must be cautious.
“While Putin is there, you can't trust the Russians. Because they believe in it as if he is a religion. You won't change them. It takes time.”
So, what is the answer – keep fighting or a peaceful deal?
“Ukraine must think of peace. But we should not give up. I do not see any point. We will resist until we are stronger. Europe seems to be ready to help us. It just doesn't make sense to give up.”
Donald Trump, a person who seems convinced that the principles of a real estate transaction can be applied to end the war will find that the conclusion of peace is much more complicated than just to end and decide how much each land preserves Country.
President Putin has become very clear that he wants to break Ukraine's sovereignty and destroy his ability to act as an independent nation.
Whether the President of Ukraine Zelenski has a place on the conference table of President Trump, he will not agree with it. Creating peace that lasts, if possible, will be a long and slow process.
If Donald Trump wants a fast peace dividend, he should look elsewhere.
