Robert Sherman is a White Home correspondent for NewsNation. He’s reporting from Ukraine. Subscribe to his newsletter: Frontlines with Robert Sherman here.
(NewsNation) — A fast flip via my passport and brief look up at me. The border guard’s eyes met mine for hardly greater than a second.
Then.
Thump.
The sound of a stamp imprinting into the skinny web page serves because the wordless welcome again into Ukraine. The crossing from Poland was full, and we had been off.
Greetings from war-torn Ukraine, the place I might be for the following few weeks. It’s my first time again right here because the begin of the struggle in 2022.
Some issues are eerily comparable, others strikingly totally different.
For instance, as we handed via Lutsk simply over the border, sirens began to blare. I had simply come from Israel through the so-called 12-Day Battle the place Israelis had been taking the dangers fairly significantly. These 12 days, we bumped into the bunkers numerous instances, joined by civilians holding their family members tightly as tears streamed down their cheeks, fearing the lethality of Iran’s capabilities.
Right here in Lutsk? No such concern. The sirens didn’t cease the younger couple we noticed from taking pictures outdoors the fortress on the town. No person ran for shelter. Whereas alerts went off, they encompassed a large area and the typical Ukrainian there (on this case rightly) believed the risk wasn’t coming their manner.
That’s totally different than the early days of the struggle. I keep in mind being right here when locations like Lutsk, Lviv and Ivano-Frankivsk can be routinely focused, particularly delicate websites just like the airports.
So, that’s an evident change. Folks in Western Ukraine, at face worth, really feel largely secure as life makes an attempt to hold on within the new regular.
However tonight, our workforce is heading to Kyiv, which we’ll be utilizing as our predominant base of operations. The capital has been quiet the previous few evenings, however however each evening individuals barricade themselves underground within the subway stations. That’s a unique new regular than in Lutsk.
One thing that hasn’t modified? The checkpoints we encounter each few miles alongside the freeway. The stress was on within the early days to root out and determine Russian spies and saboteurs. That goal stays the identical, roughly three and a half years intothe struggle.
VIDEO: What’s New, What’s the Same?
All of subsequent week, we may have some unique reporting on NewsNation that we’ll be sharing with you throughout our platforms. We’ll be exhibiting you a unique aspect of the struggle than you’ve seen up to now — and why American officers are trying on anxiously as struggle modifications quickly earlier than our eyes.
However after all, there’s the elephant within the room: There’s a brand new president within the White Home. There are new overseas coverage goals. And there’s a renewed push to deliver this struggle to an finish.
Simply this week, President Trump announced he is imposing a “new deadline” on Russia to make progress in direction of peace.
“I’m going to make a brand new deadline of about 10 or 12 days from at the moment,” the president mentioned to reporters in Scotland on Monday. “There’s no motive in ready. It’s 50 days, I need to be beneficiant, however we simply don’t see any progress being made.”
That will make the deadline someday round August 7-9, primarily based upon the president’s phrases.
Will Russia comply? Do Ukrainians imagine peace is feasible? How are issues totally different with the forty seventh president sitting within the Oval Workplace? All questions we hope to reply.
However I’d wish to open this as much as you all as nicely. What questions do you will have about Ukraine? From the geopolitics to the each day, I’d wish to know the place your curiosity is guiding you.
After I was 25 years previous, I discovered myself on a aircraft to Europe the day Russia invaded. That have modified me endlessly. I documented lots of these tales in my upcoming ebook, “Classes from the Entrance,” which you’ll be able to pre-order via Amazon, Barnes and Noble or Bloomsbury.
I’m to seek out out what else is new and what has modified since my final time right here in Ukraine. If in case you have a query or commentary, please write to me at rsherman@newsnationnow.com or via any of my social media channels similar to Facebook, X, Instagram or TikTok.
Extra to come back quickly.
The views expressed on this article are these of the writer and never essentially of NewsNation.