On the walls of a new apartment building in Kiev that will eventually house more than 20 families who fled Mariupol in eastern Ukraine in 2022, hang pictures of the city before it. Bloody siege of Russia and subsequent occupation.
There are photos of manicured gardens and a photo of the drama theater that housed hundreds of people when it was destroyed in a Russian airstrike on March 16, 2022.
For Olena Bespalova, 46, they are images of a city she once loved, but knows she can never bear to return to because she lived the worst moments of her life there.
It is a reminder of the grinding pre-war life that needs to end.
“I think a peace agreement is necessary,” Bespalova said in an interview with CBC News from her room in her apartment complex in Kiev. “I believe there is now an opportunity to stop the war.”
Uncertainty with Trump
Bespalova, like other Ukrainians, has lived through nearly three years of a full-scale invasion, and is now waiting to see how the new US president will follow through on his promises and statements to quickly end what has become a destructive and costly war of attrition. .
Donald Trump, who was elected on November 5, had previously pledged to end the war in Ukraine within 24 hours, and at times even indicated that he would be able to settle it. Before taking the oathwithout ever suggesting how.
While he and his team have backed away from boasting about reaching a quick solution, Trump’s envoy to the region still sets a goal: 100 days To reach a peace agreement, the president plans to meet with the leaders of Ukraine and Russia shortly after his inauguration on Monday.
In Ukraine, talk of Trump stirs up a mix of emotions, including hope, fear and doubt.
Some fear that the United States government during his reign was the one who provided this Nearly 70 billion US dollars Providing military aid since February 22, 2024, could force Kiev to accept painful territorial concessions as part of the peace agreement.
Others are skeptical about Trump’s ability to salvage any kind of negotiation because they believe Russia, which currently has the momentum on the battlefield, does not want to negotiate and President Vladimir Putin cannot be trusted to follow through even if there is an agreement. .
Others still hope that the man who has spent his life portraying himself as a skilled dealmaker — and has met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky twice since September — can reach some sort of negotiated settlement to stop the bloodshed.
“I just want our men not to die,” Bespalova said. “There is land…but I think human life is the most important thing.”
Olena Bespalova had to flee her home in search of safety. Her husband was later injured during the fighting. She is now one of a growing number of Ukrainians open to the idea of territorial concessions to end the war.
Victims increase
Bespalova’s husband, who was stationed on the front lines in the Kharkiv region in northeastern Ukraine, is currently lying wounded in a hospital near Kiev. He was assigned to an air defense team but was later transferred to an infantry unit to help support the front near Kharkiv.
Ukraine says more than 40,000 of its soldiers were killed along the 1,000-kilometre front line. American officials appreciate RThe Russian army lost more than 100,000 of its troops in the battle, due to its willingness to continue sending waves of men directly into the line of fire.
With the shortage of Ukrainian army forces and its retreat in the southeast, Surveys show that a growing number Many Ukrainians are willing to give up territory, at least temporarily, if the West implements security guarantees, such as calling for joining NATO or establishing a peacekeeping force on the ground.
Russia currently occupies approx One-fifth of Ukrainian territoryIncluding Crimea, which it illegally annexed in 2014.
Ukraine has captured a few hundred square kilometers in Russia’s Kursk region, which Moscow is trying to reclaim with the help of several thousand soldiers from Ukraine. north korea.
“More people are becoming realistic,” said Anton Hrushitsky, the organization’s executive director. Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, a private company that conducts public opinion polls.
He added: “If we cannot obtain all the necessary weapons and more effective sanctions against Russia, then unfortunately we may have to accept some peace agreements.”
Public opinion shifted
Hrushitsky’s team polled 2,000 Ukrainians by phone over a two-week period in December, to gauge their opinions on a number of topics, including NATO, the European Union and negotiations. Those living in Russian-occupied areas, as well as Ukrainians who moved out of the country following the invasion, were not included in the survey.
His team found that 38% of participants agreed that in order to achieve peace as quickly as possible and preserve the country’s independence, Ukraine “may give up some of its territory.”
51% did not agree with this, while 11% responded that “it is difficult to say.”
The number of Ukrainians open to some kind of territorial concessions has jumped significantly since 2023, when at that time 19% supported the idea.
Katerina Saczewska, 55, who shares a room with five members of her family, including her 84-year-old mother who is in a wheelchair, lives down the hall from Bespalova.
She believes Trump will force Ukraine to negotiate, and says it is possible that a peace deal would require leaving Mariupol in Russian hands, but she is adamant that would only be temporary.
“Understand this,” Sacewska said. “At some point, we’ll get it back“.
Few details about the peace plan
While Trump has not revealed how he plans to try to negotiate a peace settlement, members of his team have hinted at their vision. Marco RubioTrump’s pick for secretary of state, he said both sides must make concessions.
Retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg, Trump’s designated envoy to Ukraine and Russia, told Fox News earlier this month that Trump would put together a “fair and just” plan.
Kellogg, who served as national security adviser to former Vice President Mike Pence in the first Trump administration, He co-authored last year’s report This suggests that the best path forward toward peace is to freeze the conflict along the current front and lure Russia to the table with a promise to deny Ukraine NATO membership for an extended period.
Trump said he can understand why Russia opposes this The possibility of Ukraine joining NATO Plans are being prepared to meet Putin.
High hopes for Trump
While Trump’s unpredictability has left many unsure of what kind of 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 cafés in Kyiv called Trump Coffee & Bar. He opened the first location in 2019, and said he chose the name because he thought it was provocative and that Trump was a “businessman.”
Standing behind a bar serving coffee and cocktails, including an orange drink called Trump Sour, Kravtsov said war should always 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 may be able to work some “magic” when it comes to the seemingly insurmountable conflict.
Questionable deal
But Kostyantin Roktanin, 32, does not agree with this opinion and does not have much confidence in Trump, whom he considers merely a populist.
The graphic designer spoke to CBC News at a popular bar in central Kiev, where he was sipping the only drink available, a popular cherry liqueur.
He said: “With Biden, there was a kind of stability, and now the uncertainty about what will happen next has become a little scary,” referring to outgoing US President Joe Biden.
Roktanin, who has so far managed to avoid involvement in the mobilization campaign in Ukraine, said he fears conscription and is worried about being stopped by police officers while walking in the street.
He is not sure how the war will ultimately end, but he said that even if there was an agreement, he doubted Russia would stick to its part of it.
“The reality shows that negotiations with the Russians are impossible,” Roktanen said. “They only understand aggression and force.”
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