Peace talks are in parallel universe, say Ukraine front-line troops happymamay

While Moscow is a temporary ceasefire, its military machine continues to pressure its interest on the confrontation line. Diplomatic negotiations can be slow and difficult. But in the battlefield, it can be measured in lost spirits.

At a military hospital in eastern Ukraine, the injured person arrived with an ambulance in the waves. Here, there is a clear separation between the diplomacy that occurs, away from the fighting, and the brutality of the battle – where human bodies are still shattered, torn and rotated by bombs and bullets.

We see more than twenty Ukrainian soldiers who were being loaded on a bus to be transferred to the hospital in DNIPRO – some of them have fun, and some carry on the stoves. The bus is equipped with medical equipment to monitor the injured because it quickly moves it on the portable roads.

Men on the plane are less wound. Most of them hit fragments. Often the reason is what is now the most abundant weapon and fear on the front line – drones.

Nothing from those who talked to the belief that this war will end any time soon. The thirty -year -old Maxim is a stretch with IV drip to reduce some pain from several shrapnel wounds across his body. He says he heard the talk about the temporary ceasefire for 30 days, but he adds: “I consider Putin as a killer and the killers do not agree with this ease.”

“I can’t believe it,” says Fova, who is sitting close. He says he is near the besieged city of Boukrovsk, they were facing the attacks of the Russian storm every day. “I doubt that there will be a truce,” he tells me.

Another soldier named Maksym says this is the second time that it has. “I don’t think there will be a ceasefire,” he says. “I had many friends who did not return with us.

“I would like to believe that everything will be good. But you cannot trust in Russia. Never.”

The large medical bus operates the volunteer army’s medical battalion in Ukraine – known as Hospitallers. They transport dozens of injured soldiers every day.

Sofia, a 22 -year -old medical student, is working with the team over the past 18 months. She is also skeptical of the ceasefire chances: “I can’t believe it, but I really hope that it will happen,” she says.

She told me that when I first heard the news that the United States and Ukraine agreed to pressure for the ceasefire, Russian drone planes were flying over its base, and the Ukrainian air defenses shared them. For her, talking about peace from a parallel world.

“At least from good is that Ukraine and America are talking again,” Sofia says. But for hopes for any ceasefire, it indicates the recent past.

“Looking at all the ceasefire calls we made in the past, that did not work. How will this do?” You ask.

Her medical colleague, Daniel, joined Hospitallers from Sweden. He says he understands what it is when her giant neighbor is exposed. His grandfather fought for Finland against Russia during World War II. History of charges.

When Daniel first arrived in Ukraine, he used to ask the injured soldiers what they would do after the war. no longer. He says: “No one wants to answer it, because they do not want to disappoint your property. They do not dare hope.”

Daniel does not rule out the ceasefire. But he adds: “You cannot trust Putin to do anything that is not useful to Putin.”

Ukraine has a lot of bitter experience in negotiating with Russia. France and Germany mediated the ceasefire in 2014 and 2015, when Russian -backed forces took parts for the first time in eastern Ukraine and the Crimea. They did not work. It also did not deter Russia from carrying out its extensive conquest of Ukraine after eight years.

There may be a conversation about peace, but the men of the eighty Gayjin brigade in Ukraine are still preparing for war. We see as they train their training to evacuate a soldier under the fire. Most of them really had to do this in real.

At the distance, we can hear the artillery. It is located only 10 miles to the confrontation line where they will return soon.

They have heard a little positive news in recent days. The Ukrainian forces are crossed in Kursk. In August last year, this sudden attack on Russian territory looked like a step of tactical brilliance – strengthening morale. Now it is at risk of becoming a major strategic setback.

Kursk may soon not be a compromise segment of future negotiations, but it is a heavy burden, with the loss of valuable Ukrainian equipment and life.

One of the few positives is that the United States resumes its military support. This concerns the 67th Brigade, which runs the equipment that made America. They are conducting their training using an armored vehicle from the MAXXPro mentioned in the United States.

Evan, the driver, who is wearing a small American correction on his military uniform, says he has alleviated that the Trump administration has now agreed unlike the mass. His car needs regular repairs. “I would like them to continue helping,” he says.

But Ivan is still not sure whether President Trump can be trusted.

He says, “I have doubts.” As for President Putin’s confidence, he answers: “No. Never.” Here, even the temporary ceasefire looks like a long time.