A motorbike roars past a field of blooming sunflowers and drives into another one, leaving a cloud of dust in its wake. The rider is Oleksiy, an officer in one of the battalions of the 14th brigade of the Ukrainian National Guard. His unit is currently fighting near the city of Pokrovsk, which the Russian army is trying to encircle. It is a Russian bike that Russian soldiers used for their advance on Ukrainian positions, but Oleksiy and three of his fellow soldiers were able to repel an attack and seize the bike.
Oleksiy is currently on leave after 27 days of deployment. He and his unit had to wait for better weather conditions before leaving their positions. Even when they thought they were in the clear, they were lucky to escape a Russian drone.
‘I’ve given up hope’
As US President Donald Trump tries to negotiate peace between Ukraine and Russia, discussions are underway on what might happen to the Ukrainian region of Donbas, which comprises Donetsk and Luhansk, and whether Ukraine might have to accept territorial concessions in exchange for a ceasefire. A few weeks ago, the Russian army advanced northeast of Pokrovsk, which is located in Donetsk, bringing the front line closer to the city of Dobropillia and its surrounding villages.
The Ukrainian army has managed to liberate some villages and towns, but the area is under constant fire. Thus, more and more people are fleeing.
“I really believed in the negotiations and looked forward to every meeting. Now I know that it’s pointless. I’ve given up hope,” says Natalya, a Dobropillia resident, whose son was discharged from the army after he was wounded. DW met her in an area in Donetsk where evacuees had gathered. “It’s not right to stop the war and take away our territories in the process,” she says. “Everything will be ruined. There’s no certainty that it will be possible to recapture them.”
Ukrainian soldiers ‘are simply exhausted’
At a “stabilization point” on the Kramatorsk front line, it is calm. At such facilities located near the front, wounded soldiers are stabilized before being transferred to a hospital. Though it is calm here the same cannot be said about the front. The medics explain that it is because of ongoing Russian drone attacks that it is difficult to evacuate those who are wounded. They say that sometimes soldiers who have been in their positions for a month or two arrive. “Most of the time, they are simply exhausted,” says Tamara, an anesthetist.
In the middle of the night, a man who has lost his foot arrives.
“He stepped on a mine,” says Dmytro, one of the doctors who was dozing and is now operating the man. “You can see that both legs have already been operated on before. This is not his first injury.”
For Dmytro, there is no sign of Trump’s efforts to make peace here. He says that he used to work in Donetsk before 2014 and his hometown is Slovyansk. “Taking responsibility,” he replies when asked what it means fighting for his home region.
He and the other doctors at the stabilization point say that they are keeping an eye on what is happening with the negotiations but trying not to be “distracted” by events that they have no influence over.
“I am hoping for the best,” says anesthesist Tetyana. “And concentrating on providing help.”
‘Our job is to stop’ Russia
“How the negotiations proceed is a matter for the highest levels of government,” says a soldier who goes by the name of “Stinger” and works as a radio operator on the Kramatorsk front. “Our job is to stop the enemy, and we are doing it.”
He left the area where was stationed for 15 days about a week ago. He explains that the Russians stormed the Ukrainian positions several times during the two weeks. “We are not carrying out any attacks or liberation operations. We are just defending ourselves and holding back the enemy. Our task is to prevent them from advancing even 100 meters (109 yards), regardless of on the highway, in town or in a field.”
He says that the fact that the Russian military has been able to advance to Ukrainian positions is thanks to the large number of soldiers and weapons deployed by Moscow. “If a critical situation arises, we try to rescue our soldiers and bring them to rear positions, so we are at a better advantage.”
Bitterness about Trump-Putin talks
The Russian army has not only intensified its attacks on the front but also on other parts of Ukraine. On August 22, Russia dropped more than 40 guided bombs in the area around Kramatorsk, the largest city in the Donetsk region, which remains under Ukrainian control. The month before, Russian shelling had destroyed half of a multi-story residential building in the city center, killing at least six and injuring about 10 more people.
“It was half past two, I had just come home,” says Valentyna, a pensioner who lives in the neighboring building. “All the windows were blown out. My daughter was injured; shrapnel hit her leg.” Valentyna does not believe that the war will end with this round of peace negotiations, pointing out that Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the bombing of Slovyansk just as talks began between him and Trump in Alaska on August 15. “My other daughter lives there. What kind of peace talks are they?”
Most of the locals in Kramatorsk whom DW spoke with were not in favor of Ukraine making territorial concessions to Russia in return for a ceasefire.
“Today, he’ll [Putin] say, ‘Give me Donetsk’ and tomorrow, he’ll say ‘Give me Lviv.’ And in a week, he’ll say ‘Give me Kyiv,” said a pensioner called Oleh.
“Out of the question, I’m Ukrainian and I love Donbas,” says another pensioner called Zoya. “There has been so much bloodshed, so many people have died. My son is also fighting.”
“It’s tough for Volodymyr Zelenskyy, very tough”
“What is more important to Ukraine, the region or the people?” asks Vazyl, a middle-aged man. “What do we need this region for when so many people have died? Have you been to the contact line? That’s where I’m from and I’ve lost everything. We will rebuild our lives in another region.”
He explains that he and his wife left their village in the area of Kostyantynivka. “Putin cannot be trusted. I don’t know what the world should do to stop this. I know it’s tough for [Ukrainian President] Volodymyr Zelenskyy, very tough. This is a very serious decision.”
When asked what security guarantees might protect Ukraine from Russia in future, the locals have mixed views.
“Our security guarantee is our military presence all over the country,” says Mykola, a pensioner.
Svitlana, a middle-aged woman, does not believe in guarantees: “Because I’ve not seen any real support during the war.”
Yaroslav, a young soldier who is fighting to liberate his home region, is also against Ukraine making any territorial concessions.
“I’ve thought about it a lot,” he says. “But I am not prepared to give up Kramatorsk and the Donetsk region. What did so many men in Donbas give their lives for?” But he acknowledges that negotiations are necessary: “Every war ends with negotiations. Those who do not know their history are doomed to repeat it.”
This article was originally published in Ukrainian.
