A Ukrainian view of the Trump-Putin summit : NPR

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

From NPR Information, that is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I am Ari Shapiro in Washington.

MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:

And I am Mary Louise Kelly in Anchorage, Alaska, particularly at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, the place we’re ready – you might be able to hear planes touchdown now. We’re awaiting Presidents Trump and Putin. They’re popping out and taking questions after their assembly.

Proper now, we’re in a tent. There’s a couple of hundred American and Russian reporters throughout me. We’re huddled simply outdoors the auditorium the place lecterns have been arrange for Trump and Putin. They’re right here to debate the right way to finish the warfare in Ukraine. However the president of that nation, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, isn’t right here.

Nicely, we did wish to carry Ukraine into the dialog. So we’ve known as Olena Khomenko. She’s a member of Ukraine’s parliament, and he or she is on the road with us from western Ukraine. Hello, welcome.

OLENA KHOMENKO: Hello. Thanks for having me.

KELLY: So how intently are folks in Ukraine following this summit?

KHOMENKO: Individuals of Ukraine – in Ukraine are following intently as a result of all people is to see and to know the outcomes of this summit, and we’ll see what it’ll carry to us as a result of Ukraine has its expectations. And so, Ukrainian folks, they need peace as nobody else. And this summit is vital, however it’s a actually pity that Ukraine isn’t but a component, that Ukraine isn’t but on the desk.

KELLY: On the desk – you mentioned Ukrainians are watching with expectations, that there’s hope. How a lot hope? I imply, understanding that Ukraine is an enormous nation, there might be a variety of views, how excessive are expectations for this summit between Presidents Trump and Putin?

KHOMENKO: Truly, the primary expectation is that these talks will result in ceasefire. With out that, it is simply phrases whereas the warfare continues. And President Zelenskyy has mentioned many instances, you can’t discuss peace when the bombing hasn’t stopped. And for instance, when preparations for the Alaska’s assembly had been underway in the present day, we proceed to obtain reviews from throughout Ukraine of recent Russian assaults in Sumy, in Dnipropetrovsk area, cities are – and enterprises focused (ph) – Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, Donetsk areas. So deliberate strikes proceed.

And this warfare persists as a result of there may be not even a sign from Moscow about ending it. On the very day of those talks, Russians are nonetheless killing Ukrainian, and that claims every thing. So we’ve excessive hope for this, for example, sequence of summits.

KELLY: Collection of summits – so you’ve gotten your eye on the subsequent one, when President Zelenskyy, you hope, might be invited. We’re watching polls popping out of Ukraine, attempting to trace shifts in public opinion. Three-and-a-half years into preventing this warfare, Olena Khomenko, would you communicate simply to the weariness, the fatigue amongst Ukrainians?

KHOMENKO: Nicely, there may be fatigue, after all, of the warfare when drones are flying over your head day-after-day. After all, each Ukrainian needs peace, however we nonetheless have excessive spirit, and we aren’t prepared to surrender on our territories. Ukrainians aren’t prepared to surrender on our land and our territories, in addition to our aspiration to hitch NATO and the EU are enshrined in our structure. So that is what Ukraine can’t surrender on.

KELLY: That’s Olena Khomenko. She is a member of Ukraine’s Parliament. We reached her in the present day in western Ukraine. Thanks.

KHOMENKO: Thanks. Thanks very a lot.

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