On the southeastern front, Ukraine – Ukraine’s largest underground hospital is an astonishing underground warren from wood and high -tech medical machines. Over 4,300 square meters of operating rooms, an ICU, dormitories, nurses’ neighborhood and even a small fitness center, all two floors underground.
Not far from the southeastern front line, this extraordinary facility is a monument to Ukrainian ingenuity and resilience. We are witnessing an ambulance arriving from the front with wounded soldiers. One of the men is visibly horrified. We take his commander to one side
“He lost three friends in a drone strike,” says the commander. “One was a relative.”
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 accepted an American-supported proposal for a 30-day truce, where Russia has not yet issued an official response. (Photo by Paula Bronstein/Getty Images)
Paula Bronstein/Getty Images
I take my chance to ask if all this victim seems worth it now that they may not be able to rely on American support much longer.
“If we lose the support, we fight with our bare hands,” he says.
I ask what he loves Putin’s talk about peace. He laughs. Everyone is laughing at it here.
“Putin is lying,” he tells me. “I’ve been fighting since 2014 and I know the award of Putin’s wars.”
Does he worry that Trump will listen to Putin’s lies?
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 accepted an American-supported proposal for a 30-day truce, where Russia has not yet issued an official response. (Photo by Paula Bronstein/Getty Images)
Paula Bronstein/Getty Images
“He is the US president. He was elected. He can’t be stupid. “
I ask what he was doing from the oval office meeting between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky two weeks ago, which ended up in a broadly reported raw match. The commander is cautious with his words.
“Maybe that’s just the way he operates,” he says. “And we don’t see the bigger picture.”
No one here will openly criticize Donald Trump. They want the war to end. And they only know he can really help them finish it. But they are not giving up what they have fought so hard for.
What the ending looks but nobody knows.
