MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Peace talks aimed at ending the war in Ukraine resume in Abu Dhabi today.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
They've advanced to the point where Ukrainian and Russian negotiators are now meeting face-to-face with the U.S. President Trump has said he is more optimistic than ever. Last week, the president asked Russian President Vladimir Putin to hold off on striking Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities during a frigid winter while the negotiations are underway.
MARTIN: We're going to go now to NPR's Eleanor Beardsley, who is in Ukraine's capital, Kyiv, to hear more. Good morning, Eleanor.
ELEANOR BEARDSLEY, BYLINE: Good morning, Michel.
MARTIN: So tell us about this pause the president asked for. Did that happen?
BEARDSLEY: Well, yeah, it did. For a couple nights, Ukraine's cities did not get hit with the swarms of drones and missiles they've become used to, but it didn't last long. Monday night, the strikes resumed. I was here in bed when they started after midnight, and you could hear loud cracking and booming in the sky as they were met with air defenses and a sort of whooshing noise from the ground. You know, President Zelenskyy said Russia is, quote, "more interested in taking advantage of the coldest days of winter to terrorize people than diplomacy." And here's Zelenskyy speaking in his daily address to the people last night.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
PRESIDENT VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY: (Speaking Ukrainian).
BEARDSLEY: He says, "we see how Russia responds to a personal request from the president of the United States - with ballistic missiles. Not even four full days have passed."
MARTIN: Then why is President Trump hailing progress?
BEARDSLEY: Well, it seems there has been great progress on security guarantees, which are crucial for Ukraine to make sure Russia does not use its gains as a launchpad to reinvade in the future. And Secretary-General of NATO Mark Rutte was in Kyiv yesterday. He spoke to the Ukrainian Parliament. But before that, he visited a thermal power plant that was hit that night, cutting power and heat to more than a thousand apartment buildings in Kyiv, according to the mayor. As overnight temperatures, Michel, hit minus 10 degrees Fahrenheit, here's Rutte standing in the midst of the mangled, steaming wreckage of the plant.
MARK RUTTE: This plant was hit last night by five Russian missiles without any use in terms of military aims. It's only to create chaos and fear in ordinary citizens living in Ukraine.
BEARDSLEY: You know, Rutte said this shows that Russia is not serious about peace. However, Rutte is trusted by President Trump and the Ukrainians, and he painted an optimistic picture in the Ukrainian Parliament. He said Europeans are ready to put peacekeeping troops on the ground, air and sea once the fighting stops. And he said the U.S. - President Trump personally - has agreed to be the backstop, meaning any peace will be guaranteed not by signed papers, but by, quote, "hard force."
MARTIN: OK. Well, that does sound like progress. So what are the sticking points, then?
BEARDSLEY: Well, there could be many. First of all, the Kremlin welcomes diplomacy but says it's not aware of these security guarantees. And Russia has always said if there are European troops in Ukraine, that'd be a legitimate target. And Russia has not backed down from its demands that Ukraine hand over the 22% of the eastern Donetsk region that its troops have been unable to take in four years of fighting. And that includes a heavily fortified belt of land with some battered cities that blocks Russian forces from progressing further west towards Kyiv.
MARTIN: And how do Ukrainians feel about that?
BEARDSLEY: Well, they're against giving that land up, Michel. And, you know, even in this frigid winter without heat and power, Ukrainians refuse to give in. Yesterday, I was out walking on the Dnipro River that cuts through the heart of Kyiv. It's now frozen. And I talked to ice fishermen who told me, laughing, that it was warmer out there in the bright sun than in their homes with no power. And here is 65-year-old Volodymyr Karabenko (ph), who spoke to us through NPR's producer Polina Lytvynova.
VOLODYMYR KARABENKO: (Through interpreter) We won't surrender. We won't give up, at least without a fight.
BEARDSLEY: And that's what you hear out on the street and the river, and that's what polls say. Neither the bombing nor the cold is breaking Ukrainians.
MARTIN: That is NPR's Eleanor Beardsley in Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine. Eleanor, thanks.
BEARDSLEY: You're welcome, Michel. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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