Ukrainians in the Netherlands about Trump and Putin: ‘I want peace, but it is strange not to be involved’

“They talk about Ukraine, without Ukraine,” says Konstantin (19). Yes, he is afraid, he wants to admit that. Afraid of what is being better -headed by two men in powerful positions, without the fact that they, as Ukrainians, influence the outcome of a war they are victims of. “We are all afraid to have to go back. To have to fight. ” Because he doesn’t want to fight and he doesn’t want to leave. “It’s nice here,” he says, and then he really has to go on, he has to go to school.

He walks down the site on which the Ukrainian district of Mrija was built on the edge of Vlaardingen. Here, it says on a blue-yellow sign at the rise, “1000 Ukrainians until mid-2026 is taken care of pleasant and safe”. Between the Tiny Houses and buildings made up of sea containers, one flag flows: those of Vlaardingen.

How do the residents look at the ‘peace plan’ that Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin are forging over their heads? And what do they think of PVV leader Geert Wilders? He announced in the Lower House that he “never agreed” by sending Dutch soldiers to Ukraine, while “tens of thousands of Ukrainians who can simply be employed there in the summer are sipping at Pina Coladas.”

“These are all crazy words,” says Natalya (50), who also does not want her last name in the newspaper. She starts over the American president. “Trump is lying about everything. He says Ukraine started war. He says that Zensky is a dictator. That Zensky has to leave. That there must be new elections. But in our great law it says that during war that is not allowed. ”

It must be impossible for two parties to have a ‘business deal“Closing with each other, without Europe and Ukraine playing a role in this, she says. “Of course it makes me sad. We are all scared. ” She is afraid that her children, two sons, should fight. “I have not had any children so they can fight. I have had children so that they can become happy. “

I have not had any children so that they can fight

She finds Wilders’ words incomprehensible. “Does he not understand that Ukraine is part of Europe? When Ukraine is taken away, Putin does not stop. He goes on. Then he takes Latvia, Lithuania. Then he goes further and further. Then he takes everything. ” Then she is silent. She returns the students of the temporary school into the friendship into the building – and then it is quiet in the neighborhood. Only the sound of the industrial estate further on can be heard, just like the highway.

How different it is now in Ukraine, says a woman who does not want her name in the newspaper at all. She shows a movie on her phone that her brother, who is still sitting with her mother in Charkiv, has sent her. There is an air alarm. “This takes two and a half minutes. There it takes all day. This sound all day. And if you don’t hear this sound … then you will hear bombs. Every night: bombs, bombs, bombs. ”

Between heaven and earth

It is actually a bit between heaven and earth now, says Ihor (52), who is smoking a cigarette in his front garden. Perhaps, if it goes well, this could mean “light at the end of the tunnel”, but he doesn’t know for sure. He is both worried and optimistic about the future, he says. “It’s all a bit foggy. I want peace, but it’s strange not to be involved. “

They think they determine the future of Ukraine, without Ukraine, says Platon Alforov (18), who is much brighter. “How is that possible?” He asks. “I want to hear my president. I want to hear what he wants, because now I am confused. What I especially want is that the war stops. That the big dying stops. ”

But even if the war were to end, he doesn’t want to go back. “I think it remains dangerous in Ukraine. Can the soldiers function in a normal world? Where do all weapons go? It’s too scary there. ” He is currently working on a work-learning process, as a scaffolding builder. “I get a certificate when I’m done.” He walks into one of the two common buildings to arrange something for his education.

‘Dictator’

At the very top, on the second floor of the same common building made from containers, a man and an aged woman are listening carefully to a Dutch teacher. On the whiteboard there are words that belong to a Dutch breakfast: “Hagelslag – Chocopasta – coffee.”

Sviatoslav (84) hardly speaks the Netherlands and no English. An interpreter has asked him what he thinks of the situation created by Trump. He tries to convey something with wild gestures and quick words. A number of words can be clearly understood without translation. “Putin,” he says and looks penetratingly. “Dictator.” Then: “Trump … dictator.”

In addition to Sviatoslav, one woman was present at the Dutch lesson. She doesn’t want her name in the newspaper, but she wants to give something. On her phone she wrote something in Ukrainian and had it translated: “The enemy thinks he could break us. He tries that, but we fight. Glory of Ukraine and her heroes! ”

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