Ukraine is losing the battle on the ground. Many of her soldiers are tired and exhausted after three years of fighting. The question is whether the country can withstand another year of war.
Their Ukrainian forces are still resisting Russian advances in the east. However, they are almost surrounded near the city of Kurachov, where some of the fiercest fighting has taken place in recent weeks.
Black Pack, a mortar unit, tries to prevent its encirclement around Kurakhove. The Russians are approaching from three sides.
We meet the group in a safe house while they rest from the battle. This is not the average soldier. The team includes a vegetarian chef, an engineer, a programmer and an artist. A group of friends with non-conformist views. Some call themselves anarchists. All volunteered to fight.
Sert, their 31-year-old commander, joined the army shortly after Russia’s full-scale invasion. He tells me at first that he thought the war would last three years. Now, he says, he is mentally preparing for another ten years of battle.
Everyone knows that Donald Trump wants to end war. Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky and Russia’s president have said they are also prepared for talks, but the idea of a workable deal seems hard to imagine.
Chert does not reject Trump’s goal.
“He’s quite an ambitious person and I think he’ll try to do it,” he says. But he is worried about the outcome of any negotiations.
“We are realistic, we understand that there will be no justice for Ukraine – many will have to swallow the fact that their homes are being destroyed by rockets and shells, that their loved ones have been killed and that will be difficult.”
When I ask him if he would prefer to negotiate or continue to fight – Chert answers categorically: “Keep fighting.”
(AP Photo/Andrii Marienko)
It’s a view shared by most of the unit. Serhig, the vegetarian chef, believes that negotiations will temporarily freeze the war – “and the conflict will return in a year or two.”
He admits that the current situation is not “good” for Ukraine. But he too is ready to continue the fight. To be killed, he says, “it’s just an occupational hazard.”
David, the artist, thinks Trump is disturbingly unpredictable. “It could be either very good or very bad for Ukraine,” he says.
The unit advances for a week in the front line and rests the next. But even when they rest, they keep training because, they say, it keeps them motivated.
They walk through a frozen field to drop their mortars. The team was recently joined by Dennis, who voluntarily left the safety of his home in Germany.
“I asked myself the question – could I live in a world where Ukraine does not exist?” he says. He reluctantly admits that he now seems to be losing, but adds: “If you don’t try, then you will surely lose. At least I’ll die trying to win instead of lying down.”
But unlike others, Dennis says he believes Ukraine should at least consider a ceasefire. He believes Ukraine’s losses are higher than they officially admit – more than 400,000 dead and wounded. Mobilizing a larger part of the population, he believes, would not solve the problem.
“I just think a lot of the motivated soldiers are either lost or pretty worn out – and so for me it’s not that we want a ceasefire, but we can’t go on for many more years.”he says.
Dnipro, Ukraine’s third largest city, also reflects this sense of war weariness. It is regularly targeted by Russian missiles and drones. Air raid sirens sound intermittently, day and night. In silence, Ukrainians try to find some sense of normalcy in these unusual times – including going to the theatre.
In an afternoon performance of a humorous play, there are still reminders of the war – a minute’s silence in memory of the fallen, followed by the Ukrainian national anthem.
(AP Photo/Alex Babenko)
But some in the public admit they are also hoping for longer-term relief. Ludmila tells me “unfortunately we are fewer. We are getting some help, but it is not enough – so we have to sit down and negotiate.”
Xenia says: “There is no easy answer. Many of our soldiers have been killed. They fought for something – for our lands. But I want the war to end.”
Polls also show growing support for negotiations.
Some of the strongest calls for a ceasefire come from those who have been forced out of the fighting. In a shelter near the theater, in former student accommodation, a group of four elderly people reminisce about the homes they left behind.
Eighty-seven-year-old Valentina says they arrived with nothing, but have been provided with shoes, clothes and food. He says they were treated well. “It is good to be a guest, but it is better to be at home.”
Her home is now in Russian occupied territory. All four women want peace negotiations. But Maria, 89, says she doesn’t know how either side will be able to “to look each other in the eye after the absolute hell they’ve committed.”
And he adds: “It’s already clear that nobody will win militarily, so we need negotiations.”
If there are negotiations, these women could be forced to sacrifice more, since Ukraine may have to sacrifice land for peace.
Source: BBC
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