6 days ago
Ukraine plays surprise card in Trump's ceasefire push
Odesa, UKRAINE — Ukraine's audacious drone attacks on Russian air bases this weekend gave Kyiv a much-needed morale boost amid growing frustration in the country over President Trump's approach to the war.
Ukraine claimed it destroyed dozens of Russia's long-distance and nuclear-capable bombers with explosive drones smuggled across the border, although open-source reporting has not confirmed all of Ukraine's claims.
The stunning military maneuver counters Trump's narrative that Ukraine is on the brink of defeat, but it 'doesn't change everything,' said Oleksiy Goncharenko, a member of Ukraine's Parliament in the opposition European Solidarity party.
'I hope maybe after such operation Russians will also realize that they also need ceasefire. Maybe from this point of view it will help. For the moment it's great operation, but I don't feel it immediately changes a lot,' he told The Hill.
The Hill traveled to Ukraine's southern port city Odesa last week, interviewing officials, volunteers in the war effort, and people on the street about their feelings of the course of the war and relations with the U.S.
Volodymyr Dubovyk, professor of international relations at Odesa Mechnikov National University, said that while Ukrainians are worn down from three years of war, they are not prepared to swallow Russia's conditions for a ceasefire — such as recognizing Russian sovereignty over occupied territories and restrictions on their military.
'Exhaustion in Ukraine is very real,' he said. 'But at the same time, people are not having any appetite for capitulation and surrender, because, after all, so much being lost already, so many lives lost — what for? Then to give to Russia what it wanted from the very beginning? That doesn't make sense for a lot of Ukrainians.'
Trump has neither criticized nor endorsed Ukraine's cross-border operation, but he said it was discussed during his call Wednesday with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who he said promised a Russian response to the attacks.
On Tuesday, Ukraine's internal security service also announced it had carried out a special operation bombing Kerch Bridge, the main artery connecting Russia to the occupied Crimean Peninsula and a Putin pet project.
The symbolism of these attacks has boosted spirits across Ukraine but don't address wider concerns about the future of the war.
One soldier in a special forces unit, who asked for anonymity because he's not allowed to speak to journalists, said Russia still had a clear edge with its relentless firepower.
'They [Russia] are stronger; they have the great weapons — not like our weapons are better or worse, but they have more weapons, more people and they can be in the war five years, maybe seven years. I think we are almost sick after three years,' the soldier said.
He said Ukraine could still save most of its territory, but he added Ukraine would 'never get back Crimea.'
'Some of the borders I hope we save, and for that, I think we must fight,' he said.
There's also the looming challenge of dwindling U.S. support to Ukraine.
At the Black Sea Security Forum, an international security conference that seeks to highlight Odesa as a linchpin of Ukraine's defense, attendees conceded that Europe is not yet capable of replacing American weapons or financial assistance.
Former Ohio Rep. Bob McEwen (R) was a rare voice defending Trump's approach to brokering a ceasefire.
'I wish that this could have been resolved in the first 100 days, but it's going to take a little bit more energy,' McEwen said on a panel Saturday, expressing confidence that Trump's diplomatic push would ultimately succeed.
'I would encourage you to focus — as much frustration that you have with our current president — with those who allowed us to get into this problem in the first place,' he added.
Earlier, he repeated a common White House argument criticizing former President Biden as weak and failing to deter Russia from launching the full-scale invasion in February 2022.
Ukrainians are increasingly critical of Trump, with polls showing a major change in attitudes from when he was initially elected and promised to end the war within 24 hours.
Oleksandr Prokudin is the head of the Kherson Regional Military Administration. Russia occupies about 70 percent of the region and pounds the territory under Ukrainian control daily with rockets and artillery. A United Nations commission found Russia's use of attack drones in the region amounts to crimes against humanity for deliberately targeting civilians.
Prokudin is supportive of a ceasefire but isn't convinced it would lead to lasting peace, especially given Trump's antagonism toward Ukraine and favoring Russia.
'Even if a ceasefire happens and there will be a 30-day or 60-day peace, we understand that Russia will not stop at this point,' Prokudin said through a translator. 'And we will use this time to prepare ourselves for a future harder attack, which is definitely going to happen.'
He said Kherson was hit hard by Trump's decision to effectively eliminate the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and terminate grants in the region for energy resilience and irrigation repair for a region highly dependent on agriculture.
'This was a bad situation for our region,' Prokudin said of the USAID cuts.
At a community center in one of Odesa's working-class neighborhoods, volunteers have shown up consistently for three years to hand-knit camouflage nets for front-line service members — a tedious task that gives them a sense of purpose in the war effort. The center also 3D prints mortar casings and small boxes that can be fitted with electronics to use for drone surveillance.
Konstantin Zador, its executive director, said Sunday in a text to The Hill that 'Operation Spider Web' — the name of Ukraine's weekend drone attack — has raised spirits.
'Maybe it did not allow us to strengthen our position in the negotiation in Istanbul [on Monday], but it has definitely shown the whole world that Ukraine is strong and unconquerable!' he wrote after news of the operation broke.
Galina, 67, is one of the volunteers who was at the center when The Hill visited last week. She is a refugee from the city of Pokrovsk in eastern Ukraine, a strategic Ukrainian supply hub that has been fiercely contested since Russian forces first invaded in 2014.
She wasn't ready to give up on Trump.
'You can have different attitudes toward Donald Trump and what he says, but he is president of friendly nation to us and so we hope this friendliness would remain,' she said. 'Of course he is emotional, expressive, but the thing is we really need American support, so we need to accept the words as they are said, and not be the ones to judge.'
Also visiting the center that day was Andriy, 35, who said he is a member of Ukraine's special forces and in the country's growing Navy. He had come to collect one of the camouflage nets, along with some emergency medical supplies and small presents to boost morale at the front line — chocolate, cookies and children's drawings.
'There's no time for exhaustion,' Andriy said through a translator. 'There's too much work.'
Andriy said he worked with underwater explosives, part of Ukraine's arsenal that is not impacted by waning U.S. support. Asked if Ukraine will take down the Kerch Bridge, he laughed and responded: 'We are working on it right now. It would be something huge.'
A few days later, explosions rocked the bridge.
Disclosure: The Black Sea Security Forum paid for the flight and arranged transportation for The Hill. Some interviews were facilitated by the conference organizers.
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