ERR in Ukraine: Hard to say what change of US president might bring

When, how, and under what conditions new US President Donald Trump will be able to bring the war in Ukraine to an end remains uncertain, though many ordinary Ukrainians have expressed hopes of his success, while remaining realistic.
ERR's Anton Aleksejev and Kristjan Svirgsden reported from the embattled port city of Kherson, which fell to Russian forces early on in the invasion, which began nearly three years ago, only to be liberated by Ukrainian forces in November of the same year.
Since that time, Kherson—particularly the riverfront area—has been under constant fire from Russian forces.
The riverside districts appear abandoned: Streets are empty, and public transport no longer functions there. Even ambulances would likely hesitate to respond to callouts in the area.
A few markets do still operate in the city, but locally caught fish hasn't been sold there for a long time.
One market trader, Maria, has been running her fish business there for 32 years, and said: "Even during World War Two, the Germans allowed locals to fish twice a week. They didn't shell them at that time. But now with the Russians here, we can't even walk the streets, let alone go near the river. The Germans let people fish twice a week so they wouldn't starve – this is something the oldest residents told me."
Sellers and buyers alike are highly war-weary, but Donald Trump's re-entry into office in the U.S. has brought some hope that the fighting might at least come to a temporary halt or will be resolved in due course.
Tatjana said: "He'll end the war if he wants to, but not in one day, one month, or even two months. This war is very complex."
Another local resident, Lidia, said: "Much depends on that lunatic sitting in the Kremlin in Moscow, and his gang. For some reason, they're convinced they need Kherson and Kyiv, and so on."
Russian forces attempted to take the Ukrainian capital at the start of the war but failed.
Lidia's first language is Russian, but she said that doesn't make the Russian desire for dominance any more comprehensible to her.
"They want to conquer us, yet I don't understand why. I'm part of the 'Russian-speaking population.' I don't need to be liberated," Lidia said.
The main issue that needs addressing, according to Serhii, another Kherson resident, is securing a ceasefire.
But what does he think of the returning Donald Trump, at least on this matter? Serhii remained fairly pessimistic, or at least realistic, given Trump's business background and that he may have "bigger" fish to fry than Ukraine.
"It seems there will be some kind of secret deal. Ukraine's interests are not his top priority," Serhii said.
"Maybe we'll be the trade-off for some geopolitical interests that are more important to Donald Trump. That's how it's going to go, I think," he continued.
Due west of the Russian-occupied Crimean peninsula, Kherson had a pre-war population of around 279,000. While a household name today due to Russian aggression, it was, when founded, named after Chersonesus, a Greek colony founded in the 6th century BC, on the peninsula itself.
Meanwhile, 200 kilometers away, in the port city of Odesa, life appears calmer.
However, people there also have their concerns.
According to a decolonization law passed two years ago, 19 monuments symbolizing the Russian Empire or the Soviet Union must be removed from public spaces. Several dozen streets must also be renamed.
This is, however, a complex task, with critics pointing to the incomplete, arbitrary, and inconsistent manner in which it has been carried out so far.
The decolonization law in Odesa exempts monuments of significant cultural or scientific figures and global cultural heritage, but plans to relocate statues, including that of Pushkin, have sparked debate, with some viewing the move as unnecessary while others argue it is part of a broader cultural shift.
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Editor: Andrew Whyte, Merili Nael
Source: "Välisilm"