On the walls of a new building in kyiv which will eventually house more than 20 families who fled Mariupol, in eastern Ukraine, in 2022, hang photos of the city before The bloody siege of Russia and subsequent occupation.
There are images of well-kept parks and a photo of the Drama Theater, which housed hundreds of people when it was destroyed in a Russian airstrike on March 16, 2022.
For Olena Bespalova, 46, these are photos of a city she once loved but which she knows she will never bear to return to because she endured the worst moments of her life there.
They are reminders of a life before a bitter war that she must end.
“I think a peace deal is necessary,” Bespalova said in an interview with CBC News from her room in the kyiv housing complex. “I think there is now a chance to stop the war.”
Uncertainty with Trump
Bespalova, like other Ukrainians, has lived through nearly three years of full-scale invasion and is now waiting to see how the new US president will follow through on his promises and proclamations to quickly end what has become a war devastating and costly wear and tear. .
Donald Trump, elected on November 5, had previously pledged to end the war in Ukraine within 24 hours, even suggesting at times that he would be able to resolve it. before taking the oathwithout ever suggesting how.
Although he and his team have given up boasting of a quick resolution, Trump’s envoy to the region has nevertheless set a goal of 100 days to reach a peace deal, and the president plans to meet with Ukrainian and Russian leaders shortly after his inauguration on Monday.
In Ukraine, talking about Trump stirs up a mix of feelings, including hope, worry and doubt.
Some fear that under his leadership, the U.S. government, which provided nearly 70 billion US dollars in military assistance since February 22, 2024, could force kyiv to accept painful territorial concessions as part of a peace agreement.
Others doubt that Trump will be able to salvage any type of negotiation, as they believe that Russia, which currently has the momentum on the battlefield, is unwilling to negotiate and that President Vladimir cannot be trusted Putin to follow through even if there is an agreement. .
Still others hope that a man who has spent his life presenting himself as a skilled negotiator – and who has met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy twice since September – can pave the way for some sort of negotiated settlement to end to bloodshed.
“I just want our guys not to die,” Bespalova said. “There is territory…but a person’s life, I think, is the most important thing.”
Olena Bespalova had to flee her home for safety reasons. Her husband was later injured in fighting. She is now one of a growing number of Ukrainians open to the idea of territorial concessions to end the war.
Growing losses
Bespalova’s husband, who was stationed on the front line in the Kharkiv region of northeastern Ukraine, is currently injured in a hospital near kyiv. He was assigned to an air defense team, but later transferred to an infantry unit to help consolidate the front near Kharkiv.
Ukraine says more than 40,000 of its troops have been killed on the sprawling 1,000-kilometer front line, while American officials believe tThe Russian army lost more than 100,000 soldiers in combat, due to its desire to continue sending waves of men directly into the line of fire.
As the Ukrainian army is short of troops and pushed back into the southeast, surveys show that a growing number Ukrainians are ready to cede their territory, at least temporarily, if the West implements security guarantees, such as an invitation to join NATO or the establishment of a peacekeeping force on the ground .
Russia currently occupies approximately a fifth of Ukrainian territoryincluding Crimea, which it illegally annexed in 2014.
Ukraine has seized a few hundred square kilometers in the Russian region of Kursk, which Moscow is trying to recover with the help of several thousand soldiers from Russia. North Korea.
“More and more people are becoming pragmatic,” said Anton Hrushetskyi, executive director of the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, a private company that conducts public opinion surveys.
“If we are not able to receive all the necessary weapons and more effective sanctions against Russia, we may unfortunately have to accept a peace agreement.”
Change public opinion
Hrushetskyi’s team surveyed 2,000 Ukrainians by telephone over two weeks in December, gauging their opinions on a number of topics, including the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the European Union and negotiations. People living in areas occupied by Russia, as well as Ukrainians who left the country following the invasion, were not included in the survey.
His team found that 38 percent of respondents agreed that to achieve peace as quickly as possible and preserve the country’s independence, Ukraine “could give up some of its territories.”
Fifty-one percent disagreed, while 11 percent said “it was hard to say.”
The number of Ukrainians open to some form of territorial concessions has increased significantly compared to 2023, when 19% supported the idea.
Kateryna Sachevska, 55, who shares a room with five family members, including her wheelchair-bound 84-year-old mother, lives down the hall from Bespalova.
She believes Trump will force Ukraine to negotiate and says it’s possible a peace deal would require leaving Mariupol in Russian hands, but she is adamant it would only be temporary.
“Understand this,” Sachevska said. “At some point, we’ll take it back“.
Few details on the peace plan
Although Trump has not revealed how he plans to try to broker a peace deal, members of his team have hinted at their vision. Marco RubioTrump’s pick for secretary of state, said both sides would have to make concessions.
Retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg, Trump’s special envoy to Ukraine and Russia, told Fox News earlier this month that Trump would develop 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 a report last year which suggested that the best path to peace was to freeze the conflict on the current front and lure Russia to the negotiating table by promising to deny Ukraine membership in NATO for an extended period.
Trump said he could understand why Russia opposed the possibility of Ukraine joining NATO and that plans are afoot for him to meet Putin.
High hopes for Trump
Although Trump’s unpredictability leaves many uncertain about the exact 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 and said he chose the name because he found it provocative and that Trump was a “master of business.”
Standing behind a bar that offers coffee and cocktails, including an orange drink called the Trump Sour, Kravtsov said the war will always have to end in 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 that he might be able to work some “magic” when it comes to the seemingly intractable conflict.
Dubious agreement
Kostiantyn Rocktanen, 32, disagrees and has little confidence in Trump, whom he views as merely a populist.
The graphic designer spoke to CBC News at a popular bar in central kyiv, where he sipped the only drink available, a popular cherry liqueur.
“With Biden, there was some sort of 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 so far managed to avoid getting drawn into Ukraine’s mobilization campaign, said he feared being drafted and was nervous about being arrested by police then as he walked down the street.
He doesn’t know how the war will ultimately end, but he said that even if there is a deal, he doubts Russia will uphold its side.
“Reality shows that negotiations with the Russians are impossible,” Rocktanen said. “They only understand aggression and force.”
