On the walls of a new building in Kyiv that will eventually house more than 20 families who fled Mariupol in eastern Ukraine in 2022 hang pictures of the city. The bloody siege of Russia and the next task.

There are pictures of well-maintained parks and a photo of the stadium, which sheltered hundreds of people when it was destroyed in a Russian airstrike on March 16, 2022.

For Olena Bespalova, 46, they are images of the city she loved but she knows she can’t bear to go back because she endured the worst of her life there.

These are reminders of life before the final battle that they must end.

“I think a peace deal is important,” Bespalova said in an interview with CBC News from her apartment in Kyiv. “I think there is now an opportunity to stop the war.”

Uncertainty is Trump

Bespalova, like other Ukrainians, spent almost three years of the great revolution and is now waiting to see how the new US president will follow through on his promises and announcements to quickly end what has become a destructive and costly war. .

Donald Trump, who was elected on Nov. 5, previously vowed to end the war in Ukraine within 24 hours, sometimes saying he would be able to end the war. before being sworn innot to mention how to do it.

Although he and his team have stopped bragging about a quick election, Trump’s representative in the region still set a goal 100 days to come up with a peace agreement, and the president plans to meet with the leaders of Ukraine and Russia shortly after his inauguration on Monday.

In Ukraine, the discussion about Trump evokes mixed emotions, including hope, fear and skepticism.

Some fear that under it, the US government, which has given about $70 billion US in military aid from Feb. 22, 2024, he was able to encourage Kyiv to accept territorial concessions as part of the peace agreement.

Some doubt that Trump will be able to salvage any kind of negotiations because they believe that Russia, which is currently a threat on the battlefield, does not want to negotiate and that President Vladimir Putin cannot be trusted to follow through even if there is a deal. .

Others are hoping that the man who has spent his life branding himself as a master tradesman – and has met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy twice since September – can spark another deal to stop the bloodshed.

“I just want our boys not to die,” Bespalova said. “There is a part… but human life, I think, is the most important thing.”

SEE | The growing number of Ukrainians who are not against the annexation of territories by Russia:

As the war progresses, many Ukrainians are considering a concession to end the war

Olena Bespalova fled her home for safety. Later, her husband was injured in a fight. Now he is one of a growing number of Ukrainians who are calling for territorial concessions to end the war.

Increase in casualties

Bespalova’s husband, who was on the frontline in the Kharkiv region, in northeastern Ukraine, was injured in a hospital near Kyiv. He was assigned to an anti-aircraft unit but was later assigned to an infantry unit to assist in the advance near Kharkiv.

Ukraine says more than 40,000 of its soldiers have been killed on a 1,000-kilometer front line, while US officials estimate that the Russian army has lost more than 100,000 of its soldiers in the war, because of its willingness to send waves of men directly into the line of fire.

With the Ukrainian army outnumbered and pushed back to the southeast, Research shows that the number is increasing the Ukrainians are willing to leave the area, for a while, if the West uses security guarantees, such as an invitation to join NATO or the establishment of a peacekeeping force on the ground.

Russia is currently taking about one fifth of the territory of Ukraineincluding Crimea, which it illegally annexed in 2014.

Ukraine has captured several hundred kilometers in the Kursk region of Russia, which Moscow is trying to take back with the help of several thousand soldiers. North Korea.

“More and more people are becoming smarter,” said Anton Hrushetskyi, head of the organization Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, a private company that conducts sociological research.

“If we cannot receive all the necessary weapons and effective sanctions against Russia, perhaps, unfortunately, we will have to agree to a peace treaty.”

Changing people’s minds

Hrushetskyi’s team surveyed 2,000 Ukrainians by phone over a two-week period in December, and tested their opinions on several topics, including the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the European Union and negotiations. Residents of areas under Russian control, as well as Ukrainians who moved abroad after the invasion, were not included in the survey.

His group found that 38 percent of respondents agreed that in order to find peace quickly and preserve the independence of the country, Ukraine “can give up some of its territories.”

51 percent disagreed, while 11 percent said it was “hard to say.”

The number of Ukrainians open to foreign countries jumped significantly from 2023, when at that time, 19 percent supported the idea.

Kateryna Sachevska, 55, who shares a room with five members of her family, including her 84-year-old mother in a wheelchair, lives down the hall from Bespalova.

He thinks Trump will force Ukraine to negotiate and says it is possible that a peace deal would require leaving Mariupol in Russian hands, but he is sure it will be short-lived.

“Understand this,” said Sachevska. “At some point, we will return it again.”

More information about the peace process

Although Trump did not specify how he intends to try to negotiate peace, members of his team have expressed their vision. Marco Rubiowho nominated Trump to be secretary of state, said both sides should agree.

Retired Lieutenant-General Keith Kellogg, Trump’s ambassador to Ukraine and Russia, told Fox News earlier this month that Trump would create a “fair and just” plan.

Kellogg, who was national security adviser to Vice President Mike Pence in the first Trump administration, he co-authored a report last year which said the best way to bring about peace is to stop the conflict ahead and lure Russia to the table with a promise to reject Ukraine’s long-term NATO membership.

Trump has said he can understand why Russia opposes it the possibility of Ukraine joining NATO and plans are in the works to meet with Putin.

Trump’s biggest hope

While Trump’s uncertainty has left many unsure of what kind of role he will play in the war in Ukraine, Roman Kravtsov is among those who believe he will make a positive change.

Kravtsov owns two restaurants in Kyiv called Trump Coffee & Bar. He opened the first page in 2019, and said he chose the name because he thought it was catchy and that Trump was a “business.”

Standing behind a bar that serves coffee and cocktails, including an orange drink called the Trump Sour, Kravtsov said the war should always end with dialogue.

“The only question is where will Ukraine, the United States and other countries take it?”

Kravtsov said he believes Ukraine is far from Trump but he can do “magic” in dealing with the seemingly impossible conflict.

Trade doubts

Kostiantyn Rocktanen, 32, disagrees and has little faith in Trump, whom he sees as more of a populist.

The artist spoke to CBC News at a popular bar in central Kyiv, where he sipped on the only drink available, a popular cherry drink.

“With Mr. Biden, there was some stability, and now the uncertainty of what will happen next is scary,” he said, referring to US President Joe Biden.

Rocktanen, who has so far managed to avoid deportation to Ukraine, said he is afraid of being drafted and is afraid of being stopped by police while walking down the street.

He does not know how the war will end but said that even if there is an agreement, he doubts that Russia will follow its side.

“The facts show that negotiations with the Russians are impossible,” Rocktanen said. “He only understands anger and power.”