For soldiers and commanders on the edge of battle, any talk about a lasting cease-fire still feels like a dangerous fantasy.
Marc Santora and
Marc Santora, Liubov Sholudko and Nicole Tung embedded with Ukrainian forces along the front in eastern and southern Ukraine.
Hunted by drones, stalked by snipers and surrounded by minefields, soldiers fighting in Ukraine can’t risk even a small lapse in concentration.
That is why Col. Dmytro Palisa, commander of Ukraine’s 33rd Mechanized Brigade, instructs his soldiers to ignore speculation about a possible cease-fire.
“They start relaxing, they start overthinking, putting on rose-colored glasses, thinking that tomorrow will be easier. No,” he said in an interview at a command post on the eastern front. “We shoot until we are given the order to stop.”
As diplomats thousands of miles away talk about a possible truce, Russia and Ukraine are engaged in bloody battles as intense as any of the war. The furious fighting, tearing across the Ukrainian front, is, in part, a late play for land and leverage in the talks, which the Trump administration says are making progress.
But it is also evidence of deep skepticism about the negotiations: Even if incremental steps such as a pause in violence on the Black Sea manage to take hold — few Ukrainian soldiers or civilians believe it would lead to a lasting peace. Both sides are still battling to establish better positions for future fighting.
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