Sergei
Appearances
This American Life
852: Pivot Point
The first soldier I want to tell you about is Sergei. He's a former vegan chef from Kiev. He quit his job to join the army a year ago. He's really proud of the fact that his unit recycles. When I asked how he'd describe what his unit looks like when they're in action, he said, like hobbits in a bunker. Hobbits with mortars.
This American Life
852: Pivot Point
Sergei told me that it's a strange feeling to live in this moment of time before things might change. Everyone around him believes in anything and everything all at the same time. There's nothing that's not in the realm of possibility.
This American Life
852: Pivot Point
Like right now, you're living in the part of time that's stopped.
This American Life
852: Pivot Point
That's how long this war has been going on. Long enough that there's an air attack and you go brew yourself a cup of tea. When Donald Trump won the election, Sergei was sitting in a dugout on the front line. That's basically just a big square hole in the ground, 100 square feet, like in World War I. Five guys all huddled together.
This American Life
852: Pivot Point
That night, they just finished firing at the Russians, sat down to rest, when one of the guys in his unit went on X, saw the news that Trump was winning, and read it aloud.
This American Life
852: Pivot Point
Could Trump just stop the war unilaterally? Stop sending aid they'd already promised? And what's the deal with the House and the Senate? Did he need their permission? Serhii and the other soldiers dug and dug for answers. And here's where he came down. He concluded that Trump wouldn't have the power to reverse the aid Biden had already promised all at once. Which isn't exactly true.
This American Life
852: Pivot Point
But that's what he told his unit. Did you feel like it was your job to sort of calm everyone down?
This American Life
852: Pivot Point
These kinds of conversations have been happening on the Ukrainian front line for months now. Not all the time, but here and there. I talked to 10 people in a variety of positions on the front. They all laughed when I asked about Trump saying he could finish the war in 24 hours. Of course, they remembered the first time he said it. They remembered where they were, what they were doing.
This American Life
852: Pivot Point
But they didn't think much of it except for the fact that Trump was a showman and that this was all part of his act. But even so, that didn't stop them from wondering, what in the world might he mean? Same thing happened a few days after Trump won the election in November. Joe Biden approved Ukraine's use of long-range missiles. The soldiers were excited. They'd been waiting for this for years.
This American Life
852: Pivot Point
But then, Donald Trump said that he thought launching long-range missiles into Russia was actually a big mistake. One soldier told me that he was on the front line, just finished shooting mortars, when he heard what Trump had said. And he looked at his crew like, what? What does this actually mean for us? Will they actually take away the approval they'd just given us?
This American Life
852: Pivot Point
Another soldier who told me about trying to read the tea leaves of American politics is Vitaly, a drone operator. He's from a region of Ukraine that's been in the fight against Russian occupation since 2014. Vitaly's been fighting this war on and off since he was 24. As a drone operator, he spends hours sitting in a bunker watching monitors. He's got two screens in front of him.
This American Life
852: Pivot Point
One is a live feed surveillance of the front line. And the other, his phone. Social media, group chats, the news. One right next to the other.
This American Life
852: Pivot Point
They talk about how Trump, the candidate, could be against funding for Ukraine. But Trump, the president, might not be.
This American Life
852: Pivot Point
Vitaly told me he actually finds this last scenario pretty convincing. Other times, he's less optimistic.
This American Life
852: Pivot Point
Elon Musk has said there's no way that Putin will lose. And he pitched a Ukraine quote-unquote peace plan on X, which would cede Crimea to Russia.
This American Life
852: Pivot Point
Trump's victory has cracked open a space for conversations that were once totally off-limits. I heard about a moment like that from Artem, a soldier with a big personality. Artem is a volunteer fighter in a unit that calls themselves Peaky Blinders. He helps prepare ammunition for drones. He calls himself the Candy Maker. Artem's a big believer that the war is nowhere near ending.
This American Life
852: Pivot Point
Trump or no Trump, funding or no funding. But a few weeks ago, Artem went out with his commander, Zeliznyak, and another guy in his unit.
This American Life
852: Pivot Point
Artem couldn't believe that he was hearing his fellow brothers-in-arms talking about what they would do after the war ended. Going to travel, going back to their normal civilian lives.
This American Life
852: Pivot Point
To hear a fellow soldier even whisper the possibility that the fight could be over is still not something Artem's used to. The party line of any Ukrainian soldier, of any Ukrainian really, is that they'll fight to the end, and the fight may never end. Expressing any sort of doubt feels almost unpatriotic.
This American Life
852: Pivot Point
But I talked to a Ukrainian expert who's in contact with many high-ranking officials in the army, who told me that while many soldiers remain diehard and committed to keep fighting till the end, another group, which is growing, is made up of people who are getting increasingly weary of this war. Ukrainians recently suffered a series of setbacks and defeats.
This American Life
852: Pivot Point
And the expert says this group likes that Trump is someone who will change things up. Artem thought about this moment with his commander for a while. What had he meant by that? Did he actually think this war would end? Artem told me this. A few days later, in the midst of heavy bombardment, he studied his commander's face. He looked like he was all in.
This American Life
852: Pivot Point
And so, Artem decided that his commander didn't mean what he said. He told me he'd figured it out. His commander didn't actually think the war was ending. He was just testing his units. The truth is, these guys don't think about Trump all that much. They've got other things on their minds.
This American Life
852: Pivot Point
One soldier told me that when you're in the rear, far from the front line, it's easy to imagine all the possibilities of what could happen next. But when you're on the front, it's like all of that collapses into this one linear logic. The weapon in front of you, the tank next to you, the amount of ammo you have left. The present. No before and no after.
This American Life
852: Pivot Point
Those are the moments he said that feel the greatest for him. When he just does what he can with what he has. When he's not speculating about what will be.