{"id":4676,"date":"2025-03-15T09:15:49","date_gmt":"2025-03-15T09:15:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/?p=4676"},"modified":"2025-03-15T09:15:52","modified_gmt":"2025-03-15T09:15:52","slug":"on-the-ukrainian-front-soldiers-react-to-trump-reporters-notebook","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/?p=4676","title":{"rendered":"On the Ukrainian front, soldiers react to Trump: Reporter’s notebook"},"content":{"rendered":"
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ON THE SOUTHEASTERN FRONT, Ukraine — <\/span>Ukraine\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

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<\/p>\n

\u201cHe lost three friends in a drone strike,\u201d the commander says. \u201cOne was a relative.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Ukrainian soldiers with the 33rd Separate Mechanized Brigade get training incase of a gas attack during military training on March 13, 2025 in Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine. Ukraine has agreed to a US-backed proposal for a 30-day ceasefire, with Russia yet to issue an official response. (Photo by Paula Bronstein\/Getty Images)<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Paula Bronstein\/Getty Images<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we lose the support, we\u2019ll fight with our bare hands,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

I ask what he makes of Putin\u2019s talk of peace. He laughs. Everyone here laughs at that.<\/p>\n

\u201cPutin lies,\u201d he tells me. \u201cI\u2019ve been fighting since 2014, and I know the price of Putin\u2019s wars.\u201d<\/p>\n

Does he worry that Trump is going to listen to Putin\u2019s lies?<\/p>\n

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Ukrainian soldiers with the 33rd Separate Mechanized Brigade get training incase of a gas attack during military training on March 13, 2025 in Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine. Ukraine has agreed to a US-backed proposal for a 30-day ceasefire, with Russia yet to issue an official response. (Photo by Paula Bronstein\/Getty Images)<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Paula Bronstein\/Getty Images<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s the American president. He was elected. He can\u2019t be stupid.\u201d<\/p>\n

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<\/a>. The commander is careful with his words.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe this is just the way he operates,\u201d he says. \u201cAnd we don\u2019t see the bigger picture.\u201d<\/p>\n

No one here is going to openly criticize Donald Trump<\/a>. They want the war to end. And they know only he can really help them end it. But they aren\u2019t about to give up what they\u2019ve fought so hard for.<\/p>\n

What the end looks like, however, no one knows.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ON THE SOUTHEASTERN FRONT, Ukraine — Ukraine\u2019s 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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4677,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4676","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4676","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4676"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4676\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4678,"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4676\/revisions\/4678"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4677"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4676"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4676"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4676"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}