Former osteopath Vasyl stood proudly in the Kyiv sun as he swore an oath to defend Ukraine in a war that Kyiv fears the US is forcing it to end on Moscow’s terms.
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For recent recruits like him, Ukraine’s fight against the invading Russian army looks set to get only tougher following US President Donald Trump’s move to halt arms supplies and stop intelligence sharing.
The Republican is trying to mastermind a ceasefire to the three-year war, but among the new fighters, there was little faith in the prospect of a lasting truce with the Kremlin.
“Peace won’t come so quickly because it depends on Russia, not on anyone else,” Vasyl, 39, told AFP.
“If they return to their homes now, there will be peace,” he added.
Ukraine has repeatedly said it wants to end the fighting, but will not agree to Russia’s hardline demands.
Moscow claims to have annexed four Ukrainian regions that it partially seized during the invasion and is demanding Kyiv pull its troops backs from even more land as a precondition to talks.
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‘Fight with sticks’
Vasyl knows what he is up against – he has been fighting at the front for three months.
At an oath-taking ceremony in Kyiv on Friday, he and two dozen recent volunteers were lined up on a hill being formally inducted to the famed Da Vinci Wolves battalion.
With their backs to the Dnipro River sparkling below in the morning sun, they looked up to a statue of the battalion’s former leader, Dmytro Kotsiubailo, flanked by three stone wolves.
Kotsiubailo, who died two years ago, is widely regarded as a war hero in Ukraine.
“Emotions were overwhelming. It’s impossible to express how I felt. I still have goosebumps,” Vasyl said.
Vasyl only recently returned to Ukraine from Portugal, where he went after being turned away from trying to join the army in 2022 at the start of Russia’s invasion.
Ivan, another taking his oath on Friday, had been turned away in 2022 after trying to join the army aged only 17.
“I kind of got a slap on the wrist,” he recalled, saying recruiters told him, “children should not die at war.”
Now 20, he had managed to get into the Da Vinci Wolves battalion.
Despite the Ukrainian army’s wider struggle to replenish its ranks, the unit still attracts fresh volunteers due to its reputation as an elite fighting force.
Commander Sergiy Filimonov said he was sure Ukrainians would put up a fight, even if the United States fully abandoned them.
“We would very much like our partners and allies to help us,” the 30-year-old said.
“But if no one helps us, we are ready to fight with sticks, we have the experience of generations.”
‘How can we surrender?’
In a stunning shift of US policy, Trump has initiated a rapprochement with Moscow and suspended military aid and intelligence to Ukraine.
The Republican has also blamed Ukraine for “starting” the war and called Zelensky a “dictator.”
For commander Filimonov, accepting the kind of peace that Moscow and Washington seem to be pushing for would be unacceptable.
He first served in 2014, when Moscow-backed separatists launched a war in the country’s east and then enlisted against in 2022.
He told AFP he is fighting “for freedom, for democracy, for the right to be called Ukrainians, for the right to have our own land.”
At Friday’s ceremony, he spent several minutes reading aloud the names of fellow fighters killed in combat.
Tears streamed down the faces of some soldiers, who remained still.
“They have no voice now, but they live our struggle, they live in our memory,” Filimonov told AFP.
“How can we surrender? How can we give up our land? How can we give up our people? How can we give up our lives without a fight?,” he asked.
“This will not happen.”
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