Almaz, Vasily, Artyom - three Ukrainian soldiers with a common fate: they were wounded at the front and now lie in the hospital in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro with amputated lower limbs. Since the beginning of the Russian aggression against Ukraine, about six thousand people have passed through this hospital for amputation of limbs.
Almaz, Vasily and Artyom have another thing in common: they do not believe that Putin wants peace. "Even if peace talks begin and a ceasefire is declared, sooner or later everything will start all over again. In one or two years at the latest, there will be a new major invasion of Ukraine. They won't leave us alone," Artyom told DV.
"The Russians will continue to deceive us"
The 26-year-old man was a medic - he took care of the evacuation of wounded soldiers from the combat zone. Until recently, he himself was injured in an attack by a Russian combat drone. "We were just loading wounded soldiers into a pickup truck when it was hit by a drone. Everyone in the pickup truck died."
Vasily was a car mechanic before he was mobilized last year. He operated drones until he was discovered and attacked by a Russian drone, after which he said goodbye to both his legs. "The Russians cannot be trusted. They pretend to agree to a contract, but they don't keep anything. They will continue to deceive us - both us and the world. I see no way out without the support of our allies."
Almaz Kaziev also has two amputated legs. Two years ago, his life was saved in a hospital in Dnipro, and he has been working as a volunteer at the health facility ever since. He told DW: "They want our territories, our children, our people and our future - we cannot accept this. It is absurd that they talk about peace talks and at the same time continue to bomb and kill us."
"I wish the war would end immediately"
61-year-old Larisa knows what it is like to live under constant Russian shelling. She evacuated from Kostyantynivka and now lives in Dnipro. She admits that she initially had high hopes for Trump. "He promised that there would be talks. We thought the war would end by the beginning of the year or by Easter at the latest. And now people are hoping for May 9th. Maybe then Putin will end the war." Larisa has two sons at the front. She says that what she wants most is for this war to end: "I want the war to end today, right this second. Someone to call us and say - it's all over, you can go home. In Kiev, they may think that we should fight to the last drop of blood. But this may be the blood of my children. I don't want them to sacrifice their lives. I want them to return home." Sasha is a former prisoner of war, he was released in February of this year as part of an exchange. But his uncle Andriy is still in Russian captivity - for the third year. "We lived in constant fear. The worst was when they called us in to torture us. "They kept us completely in the dark about what was happening, they didn't tell us anything," he recalls. Andriy's family is waiting for some sign that he is still alive. Everyone is encouraged by the prospect of peace, but an end to the war on Russia's terms is out of the question, they are adamant. "We must remain united" "Many heroes lost their lives. This should not have been in vain. My husband went to war to protect our family, so that our son wouldn't have to go to war and be spared this hell," says Elya, Andriy's wife. She very much wants Ukraine's Western backers to step up their pressure on Russia. But he categorically rejects Russian demands to demilitarize Ukraine - although he knows that some concessions will have to be made. "I understand that we will not be able to regain all the territories. But we must remain united - as far as possible", Elya also says. Andriy Kozhushina, 22, from Mariupol, is also convinced of this: "I have seen everything in this war - how the water runs out, how the electricity, heating and telephone connections stop. I have seen shops being looted, I have seen tanks, soldiers, bombings and a lot of death. Somehow I learned to survive." In Mariupol, his task was to monitor the movement of Russian units, find out what equipment they had and report if he found their air defense systems. But the Russians discovered him and declared him wanted. A year after the start of the Russian invasion, Andriy managed to escape from Mariupol, and now in Dnipro he follows and participates in a resistance group on Telegram, which tries to document the actions of the Russian occupation forces. And his greatest wish is for the war to end. "People want to take a breath" "People are tired of the war. They just want to catch their breath, to be able to go out at night. Now they bomb us every night, and that makes the terrible war even more unbearable. And our soldiers are exhausted and need rest," says the young Ukrainian. He is aware that peace will come at a price: "Ukrainian borders will probably change. But the people living in the occupied territories will not accept this. They will continue to resist - just like I am doing and the people of Donetsk have been doing for more than ten years." Andriy does not know how long this will take. But he is sure that one day he will be able to return home to Mariupol. Author: Nimisha Jaiswal