Ukraine, Father Ihor Boyko: "In Washington, they talk about peace, but here the bombs continue to fall."

In Washington, the talks concluded with a meeting between Zelensky and Trump, joined by other European leaders, including Macron and Meloni. Vladimir Putin agreed to meet Volodymyr Zelensky within the next few days. "Trump," wrote journalist Alessandro Banfi in his press review, "promised the Ukrainian president that the United States will help ensure Ukraine's security, with the support of European countries. This is the first time the US has accepted the prospect of direct involvement. Zelensky commented on the American move as "an important step forward," adding that the guarantees would be "formalized on paper within the next week or within 10 days." Meanwhile, "in Ukraine, the alarms continue to sound and the bombs continue to fall," says Father Ihor Boyko , rector of the Greek Catholic seminary in Lviv, who has been traveling across the country for three years delivering humanitarian aid.

How are you?

Let's put it this way: good, despite everything.

These are crucial days for the evolution of the conflict. First, the meeting in Alaska between Trump and Putin, then the second round of talks yesterday in Washington. How have Ukrainian citizens perceived the information and images received so far?

Let's start with Alaska: seeing Putin welcomed so "friendly," with such fanfare, and on a red carpet was hard to accept. For us, he is an aggressor who has caused unspeakable suffering: he ordered the killing of civilians, occupied our territories, and kidnapped our children. The image of him receiving a warm welcome has generated a sense of profound injustice and suffering.

The meeting in Washington, with the participation of Macron and Meloni, opened a glimmer of hope and ended with the news that there will be a meeting between Zelensky and Putin.

We cannot delude ourselves. Despite the talks, they continue to bomb our cities. I wonder if there is truly a will to stop the war and the occupation. For us, the first condition for serious dialogue should be the end of hostilities, a definitive ceasefire. Meloni's position, which emphasized the need to remain united, is a strong point. A meeting between the two leaders would be a positive step, but not at the cost of surrendering our territories.

The decision on the territories has been postponed and will be made during the direct meeting between Zelensky and Putin

I would be happy if this meeting could happen. But for our part, we can't give up territories as easily as Putin perhaps expects. Let's imagine someone wanting to take Sicily. I don't think the Italians would be happy to give up a piece of their land and say, "Okay, come on, let's stop." The same goes for us Ukrainians, because we have lost so many soldiers and so many lives in this war. We have paid a very high price; so many young people have died defending their homeland. The fairest thing would be for all the territories unjustly occupied by the Russians to return to Ukrainian ownership. This is what the people want: we have the right to our own territories. We don't want anything that belongs to someone else, but we want our own, which must be returned. It's as if someone had three apartments and an enemy took one and said, "Make do with the other two." It's not fair. We must understand that the Ukrainians want what's theirs. I don't know what Zelensky's decision will be, but from what we hear here, this will be the most difficult point to decide: what to do with the temporarily occupied territories and guarantees that it won't happen again.

Photo credit: LaPresse/Palazzo Chigi/Filippo Attili