Not a single home remains intact in the village of Bohorodychne in Donbas, since it was torn apart by artillery back in 2022. There are signs warning about mines everywhere. The local school is ripped apart and burned-out. Military vehicles are camped in the village and in the fields. No shops are open. Even the local Russian Orthodox church has been destroyed in the fighting.
Before the full-scale Russian invasion, approximately 700 people lived in Bohorodychne. Now, only a fraction remain. They roam the streets as Ukrainian military cars drive through the village on the way to the frontline, some 30 kilometres away. Everyone here depends on aid groups to deliver food, warm clothes, and even dog food.
It would pain her to see Vladimir Putin claim Ukrainian land in a peace deal, but she doesn’t see any real alternative
Only the outer walls remain of what used to be 68-year-old Lyubov Doroshenko’s home. She walks around the rubble, pointing to where she used to sleep, where the kitchen was, and where her kids played when they were growing up. Volunteers have built her a makeshift house next to the old one. The village is said to have changed hands 14 times since the Russian assault in 2022.
‘I just want peace. Nothing more. Just peace. People told me that Trump has been elected president of the US and that he wants peace. I hope he succeeds’ says Doroshenko, who left Bohorodychne back in 2022 but returned soon after the Russians left.
‘This is my home. I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else. Only here’ she says and adds that if the Russians were to return, she would not want to leave again.
Doroshenko points out that she doesn’t know much about politics, especially in the US. She knows about President-elect Donald Trump only because locals talk about him and from the news on her radio.
‘But I know of war. I know what war is. Everyone here knows what war is and we are so tired. This used to be a great village, where tourists came to relax at the river’ Doroshenko says, ‘I don’t think that we can win this war. Not anymore. So, maybe we will need to talk.’
She grimaces, knowing that it might not be popular to say in Ukraine, where tens of thousands have lost their lives trying to stop the Russian army. It would pain her to see Vladimir Putin claim Ukrainian land in a peace deal, but she doesn’t see any real alternative.
From her window, she can see the Ukrainian soldiers drive towards the frontline, knowing many will not return home. Doroshenko just wishes the killing would stop.
‘I hate the Russians. It is the truth. I ask God, how this can happen? How is it possible that we can have such a war? I don’t know why but I must trust that God has a plan.’
‘But I fear that even if peace comes, life will never be the same. Too much is destroyed. You will have to build a new village. So many are dead, gone. It is a doomed place’ she argues and points out that Bohorodychne is like a wasteland like many other places in Donbas.
The Russians are on the move in Donbas, where the Ukrainian Army is struggling due to a lack of weapons and men. Doroshenko fears a collapse, something she says could happen fast if Donald Trump decides to cut military aid to Ukraine. Everyone is tired.
Doroshenko isn’t alone in her desire for peace and negotiations. A new survey by Gallup, conducted in August and October, shows that 52 per cent of Ukrainians would like to see a negotiated peace as soon as possible, while 38 per cent want to continue fighting until victory. Of the people ready for negotiations, 52 percent are open to territorial concessions.
Fifty-five-year-old Mykola pushes his bicycle next to destroyed homes and minefields. He is on his way to collect aid for the harsh winter months. Back in 2022, he and his mother were the only ones who refused to evacuate from Bohorodychne, when the Russian assault began. He didn’t want to leave his home and claimed that he cursed the Russian soldiers when they entered the village. They claimed to come as liberators.
‘I couldn’t understand that,’ says Mykola, ‘And now, I don’t know what will happen. I have heard about this guy Trump. That he is a businessman. I don’t know. He wants peace. I want peace, so let’s hope that he can do something. Life right now is shit.’
‘To be honest, I can’t see an end to this. You ask me if peace is possible. My answer is that I don’t know. Can there be a compromise? I don’t know. Only Putin knows,’ says Mykola, who thinks that Ukraine in theory should be open to the possibility of territorial concessions.
Bohorodychne is not new to war. It was also a battlefield during the second world war when Nazi Germany occupied the village from 1941 to 1943. Residents have heard their grandparents tell stories about it. Mykola can’t believe that war has come here again.
Mykola’s dog runs next to him. He has named it Putin because of its aggressive nature. Like the Russian president, it cannot be trusted, he says and adds that Donald Trump might soon find out that any deal with Putin isn’t worth the paper it is written on.
‘But again, I don’t know what will happen,’ says Mykola, who adds that he just focuses on what he can do, such as gathering enough firewood to stay warm.
There isn’t any electricity in Bohorodychne. Some locals have received a generator, others have not. It makes the winter months long, dark, and depressing.
Mykola greets other locals at a meeting point in the city. They also wait for aid. His 57-year-old friend Yura is already there. They shake hands and Yura smiles. He is unemployed like many people here.
‘Trump will make peace, I really think so. We have to talk to Russia. We cannot continue,’ Yura says, while others are listening. He also doesn’t believe that victory is possible.
Yura hopes that Donald Trump will increase military aid so that Ukraine can negotiate from a position of strength.
‘No, no, no. You can’t talk to Putin. You cannot trust him. It is not possible. Trump will not succeed. Putin wants to take everything,’ says Sergey, another local.
Everyone wants the war to end here. The only question is how.
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