MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
The world is watching the U.S. election, maybe nowhere more so than in Ukraine, where the outcome is seen as a matter of national survival. Ukraine's president says he refuses to give up territory for a peace deal no matter who wins on Tuesday. But the view from a coal mining town in eastern Ukraine where Russian troops are advancing - it's more complicated. NPR's Joanna Kakissis has our story.
JOANNA KAKISSIS, BYLINE: The town of Dobropillya is just about 20 miles from the front line. Russian missiles frequently strike here. Mechanic Dmytro Mohsin points to a bombed-out dormitory.
DMYTRO MOHSIN: (Speaking Surzhyk).
KAKISSIS: "It's scary," he says, "but here we are."
(SOUNDBITE OF WATER RUNNING)
KAKISSIS: He and his neighbors are huddling around outdoor spigots, chatting as they fill containers with drinking water. The Russian invasion cut off the town's main water supply. I bring up the U.S. presidential election, and Volodymyr Maruch, a coal miner, says he's really wound up about it.
VOLODYMYR MARUCH: (Speaking Surzhyk).
KAKISSIS: "The candidate who supports us is Kamala Harris," he says. "I'm hoping Donald Trump is not as stupid as we think he is, this fool in a special relationship with Vladimir Putin."
Russian troops already occupy 80% of Donetsk, the coal-mining region this town is part of. And those troops are outside another coal hub, the nearby city of Pokrovsk, which is also a key supply center for Ukrainian soldiers.
IHOR KURDIA: (Speaking Ukrainian).
KAKISSIS: Ihor Kurdia is Dobropillya's deputy mayor. He says a third of his town's residents are refugees from Pokrovsk and other besieged cities. But no one is safe from Russian missiles.
KURDIA: (Speaking Ukrainian).
KAKISSIS: "Just a few days ago," he says, "one missile killed a 4-year-old girl here."
UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: (Speaking Ukrainian).
KAKISSIS: Kurdia is a former high school history teacher. He knows everyone in town. He waves at a kindergartener and his parents as we walk through a largely deserted playground.
KURDIA: (Speaking Ukrainian).
KAKISSIS: "I worry about our people," he says. "I want to save their lives. I want this war to end so mothers do not cry in Kyiv or even in Moscow." He also wants Ukraine to get its land back, and he believes Americans, regardless of their politics, support Ukraine's victory.
KURDIA: (Speaking Ukrainian).
KAKISSIS: "When there's a new U.S. president," he says, "I don't believe we will lose American friends."
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
KAKISSIS: At a cafe called Sunrise, owner Tetiana Regeda is less optimistic. She worries the U.S. has lost interest in Ukraine.
TETIANA REGEDA: (Speaking Ukrainian).
KAKISSIS: "I hope whoever becomes the next American president," she says, "can at least get us to the negotiating table." At her cafe, she says she often hears women sobbing because their sons and husbands have died on the front line. She'd rather save lives instead of territory.
REGEDA: (Speaking Ukrainian).
KAKISSIS: "I doubt we will return to our pre-war borders," she says. "We have to be realistic."
ILYA POLTAVSTEV: Stop. Stop. Stop. (Non-English language spoken).
KAKISSIS: Outside the town's hospital, medic Ilya Poltavtsev helps a young pregnant woman who has blacked out. He evacuates Ukrainians from nearby towns captured by Russian troops, and he has a plea for the American presidential candidates.
POLTAVSTEV: (Non-English language spoken).
KAKISSIS: "If you have a magic pill that will end this war," he says, "we are willing to buy it from you." He says it feels like Ukraine is losing allies and might not survive. He's even willing to make a desperate offer to Vladimir Putin.
POLTAVSTEV: (Non-English language spoken).
KAKISSIS: "Even if I have to kneel and beg for the bloodshed to stop," he says, "I will do it. I will give up everything I own." Depending on who wins this Tuesday, he says, he hopes Ukraine won't have to do the same. Joanna Kakissis, NPR News, Dobropillya, Ukraine.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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