Jeremy Bowen: No sign of a quick peace dividend for Trump in Ukraine

International editor Jeremy Bowen reports from the Sumy region in northern Ukraine, noting that Russia and the United States are resuming dialogue, while European leaders and diplomats are carefully weighing the stark choices presented by US President Donald Trump.

Undoubtedly, President Trump's diplomatic ultimatum to Ukraine and America's Western European allies has created rifts in the transatlantic alliance, potentially irreparable ones. This move undoubtedly presents new challenges to Europe's strategic layout, forcing them to re-evaluate their relationship with the United States.

Ukrainian President Zelenskyy seems unsettled by the sudden shift in the White House's attitude, although many of his critics at home believe he should have anticipated it. Long before winning re-election, Donald Trump made it clear that he would not continue Joe Biden's policies. Upon arriving in Turkey for his latest visit, Zelenskyy expressed discontent that negotiations to end the war were taking place "behind the backs of the key parties affected by the consequences of Russian aggression."

However, from the air-conditioned rooms of Saudi Arabia, where Russian and American delegations faced off across a wide and highly polished mahogany table, to the frigid region of northeastern Ukraine, feels worlds apart. In the snowy villages and forested bunkers and military bases bordering Russia, Ukrainian soldiers continue to fight as always.

In an underground bunker somewhere in the forest near Sumy, a Ukrainian officer told me he doesn't have much time to pay attention to the news. In his view, Donald Trump's decision to talk to Russian President Vladimir Putin is "just noise." This commander, who asked to be identified only by his call sign "White," has more pressing matters to consider. For a field commander preparing to lead his soldiers back into battle, ignoring the diplomatic bombshell that has shaken Western leaders and his own president may be the right thing to do. Soon, they will return to Kursk, rejoining the fight to defend the land Ukraine has taken back from Russia.

As a condition of allowing journalists to interview Ukrainian soldiers, we agreed not to disclose specific locations or identities, only to say that they were located in the border area around the town of Sumy and were all involved in Ukraine's ongoing fighting in Kursk. In one village, a small room hidden in a workshop displayed an array of weapons of awesome killing power, arrayed on shelves made from planks from the sawmill, supported by wooden ammunition boxes.

The shelves held hundreds of drones, all made in Ukraine. Each drone costs about £300 ($380). The soldiers were inspecting them before packing them into cardboard boxes for shipment to the Kursk battlefield, saying that when armed—and flown by skilled pilots—they could even destroy a tank. One of the soldiers, named Andrew, used to be a drone pilot until his leg was blown off. He said he didn't give much thought to what the Americans were saying—but none of them trusted President Vladimir Putin.

Hours earlier, their drones had destroyed a Russian armored column moving across the frozen snow in broad daylight. They showed us the video. Some of the vehicles they hit were flying the Soviet red flag, not the Russian flag. Sumy is very busy during the day, with shops open and well-stocked. But once night falls, the streets are almost deserted. Air raid sirens sound frequently.

Anti-aircraft guns fired tracer rounds into the sky for hours, targeting Russian drones crossing the border to attack targets deeper inside Ukraine, and sometimes Sumy itself. A large apartment building had a three-story hole blown in it. About two weeks ago, 11 people were killed here in a Russian drone attack. The building has since been evacuated, as engineers fear it is so badly damaged it could collapse. It is part of the same monumental complex built in the Soviet era. Residents still living next to the destroyed and unsafe building are going about their daily business, wrapped in thick clothes, braving the bitter cold to go to the shops or their cars.

A 50-year-old man named Mykola stopped to talk to us as he was walking home with his young son. He lives next door to the building the Russians destroyed. I asked him what he thought of Donald Trump's ideas for achieving peace in Ukraine. "We need peace," he said. "It is necessary, because war is meaningless. War leads to nothing. If you look at how much territory Russia has occupied so far, if the Russians are eventually going to reach Kyiv, they will have to keep fighting for 14 years. Only the people are suffering. It needs to end."

But Mykola believes that Putin and Trump sitting down together without Zelenskyy and the Europeans involved will not lead to any worthwhile agreement. Yulia, 33, another neighbor, was walking her Jack Russell terrier. She was at home when the Russians attacked the apartment building next door. "It all happened just after midnight, when we were getting ready for bed. We heard a huge bang, and we saw a huge red flash through the windows. We saw this horror. It was very scary. "A lot of people were outside. I remember a woman hanging outside—she was screaming for help—we couldn't see her at first, but eventually she was rescued from the rubble."

She believes peace is possible, "but they need to stop bombing us first. Only when they stop doing that will there be peace. It needs to start from their side, because they started this horror. "Of course, you can't trust Putin." As the last rays of sunlight disappeared, Boris, a sprightly and upright 70-year-old retired colonel, stopped on his way to his car, having served in the Soviet army for 30 years. He said his son and grandson were both serving in the Ukrainian army.

"Peace is possible," he said. "But I don't really believe it. I think justice will be done for Ukraine. You have to be careful. "As long as Putin is there, you can't trust the Russians. Because they believe in him like they believe in a religion. You won't change them. It takes time." So what is the answer—to keep fighting or to reach a peace agreement?

"Ukraine needs to consider peace. But we shouldn't surrender. I don't think there's any point. We will resist until we become stronger. Europe seems ready to help us. There's no point in surrendering." Donald Trump, a man who seems convinced that the principles of real estate deals can be applied to ending wars, will find that achieving peace is far more complicated than simply reaching a ceasefire agreement and deciding how much land each side gets to keep.

President Putin has made it very clear that he wants to destroy Ukraine's sovereignty and destroy its ability to exist as an independent nation. Whether or not Ukrainian President Zelenskyy gets a seat at President Trump's table, he will not agree to that. Reaching a lasting peace, if possible, will be a long and slow process.

If Donald Trump wants a quick peace dividend, he should look elsewhere.