On the Ukrainian front, soldiers react to Trump: Reporter’s notebook

ON THE SOUTHEASTERN FRONT, Ukraine — Ukraine’s biggest underground hospital is an astonishing subterranean warren of timber and high-tech medical machinery. Over 4,300 square feet of operation rooms, an ICU, dormitories, nurses’ quarters and even a small gym, all some two stories underground.

Not far from the southeastern front line, this extraordinary facility is a monument to Ukrainian ingenuity and resilience. We witness an ambulance arrive from the front with injured soldiers. One of the men is visibly distraught. We take his commander to one side

“He lost three friends in a drone strike,” the commander says. “One was a relative.”

I take my chance to ask if all this sacrifice seems worth it, now that they may not be able to count on American support for much longer.

“If we lose the support, we’ll fight with our bare hands,” he says.

I ask what he makes of Putin’s talk of peace. He laughs. Everyone here laughs at that.

“Putin lies,” he tells me. “I’ve been fighting since 2014, and I know the price of Putin’s wars.”

Does he worry that Trump is going to listen to Putin’s lies?

“He’s the American president. He was elected. He can’t be stupid.”

I ask what he made of the Oval Office meeting between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky two weeks ago, which ended in a widely reported shouting match. The commander is careful with his words.

“Maybe this is just the way he operates,” he says. “And we don’t see the bigger picture.”

No one here is going to openly criticize Donald Trump. They want the war to end. And they know only he can really help them end it. But they aren’t about to give up what they’ve fought so hard for.

What the end looks like, however, no one knows.