on the front, these Ukrainians expect a lot from the promises of the new American president

Throughout his campaign, Donald Trump, the new president of the United States, swore that he would be able to conclude a ceasefire in 24 hours. A deadline that he cautiously extended to six months, while he announced that he was preparing a meeting with Vladimir Putin.

Meanwhile, on the Ukrainian ground, the situation is more difficult than ever, with Russian strikes even in the center of kyiv, and fierce fighting to conquer new strategic areas before a possible freeze in hostilities. As on the eastern flank, where a battle is being fought for the city of Pokrovsk, whose population is being evacuated.

A few hours ago, Olena, 83, had to evacuate. She took her papers, some clothes, tied a yellow kerchief on his head, grabbed his cane and left his village very close to Kourakhove. “It’s terrible there. It’s such a war. What’s in my head, you can’t know. The noise in my ears, the ringing, my God…”

“Putin is not going to stop. Ever. Not until he crushes everything.”

Olena, Ukrainian

at franceinfo

Olena left an entire life behind her. Her house, the chickens, the small vegetable garden which allowed her to live on her meager pension as a farm worker. She will spend the night at the Pavlograd refugee center. The next day, she doesn’t know where she will sleep or where she will be sent. “Hope rests only on Trump, estimates the octogenarian. He said ‘I won’t give a penny to Ukraine.’ And if he doesn’t give any more money, the war will end.”

On the platform of Pavlograd station, which centralizes the arrival of displaced people fleeing the arrival of the Russians, lives are being torn apart. Here, everyone fears the imminent fall of Pokrovsk, strategic, at the crossroads of several roads at the gates of Donbass. Liouba ended up leaving.

“We probably would have died under the ruins. It’s scary to stay in the city, it’s so scary lately“, confides Liouba. For her, “this fight, these terrifying bombings” are to regain control of the Pokrovsk mine, “the only coke mine [combustible] in Ukraine, and coke is metallurgy.” This mine is essential and strategic in the production of Ukrainian steel, the country’s second largest source of exports. The evacuation of its staff a few days ago and its shutdown was a hard blow.

The old lady compulsively spreads her fur coat around her. “At least they agree on a ceasefire, so the buildings will no longer be destroyed,” she implores. Otherwise, where to return next ?” Donald Trump’s new promise, to resolve the war in six months, is Liouba’s last hope.