The hopes and fears of the wife of the Ukraine Combat Pilot before the dining room

Maria’s life has been reduced to waiting for her husband’s next phone call, not knowing if she could be the last.

Ivan, a 31-year-old Ukrainian combat pilot, began to defend the skies of the first hours of Russia’s large-scale invasion in February 2022, and has now flown more than 200 dangerous missions in its former MIG-29 plane of the Soviet era.

The commander of the squad has lost several comrades in the war. Some were close friends. Others were godparents of the children of the other. The location of its current air base in western Ukraine cannot be revealed for security reasons.

But as the efforts led by the United States to negotiate a rhythm of high fire fire, and the new conversations with Russia and Ukraine planned on Monday, things have changed.

“If any fire arrives (around), we will feel safer,” says Maria.

In Ukraine, more and more people speak openly of war fatigue. They are asking for the end of the most brutal fighting in Europe since World War II, and the firm guarantees of Western protection to ensure that Russia cannot attack again.

At the same time, María fears that any agreement can imply accepting the loss of four Ukrainian regions in the southeast Partially seized by Russiaas well as Crimea, annexed by Russia in 2014. “No one will return our lost territories,” says the 29 -year -old man. “They will remain under Russian occupation.”

She asks: “What (did) so many men, our heroes, sacrifice their lives if Ukraine cannot fight for them and is forced to make concessions?”

When María and Ivan met, the perspective of a large -scale war in Ukraine seemed impossible.

María was an English teacher at a local children’s club in western Ukraine attended by the daughter of one of Ivan’s comrades. The comrade offered to establish Ivan with María, whom he described as “a very pleasant teacher.”

At first, Ivan was pressed by the agreement, but finally agreed to come.

He was glad to have done so. They soon began to see each other.

In one of his first appointments, Ivan warned Maria that she had a dangerous job. She said it would not be a problem. Ivan was brave, affectionate and protective, and Maria was falling in love.

Soon he had to go to a long -term deployment away from home. They lost contact for a year, and it seemed that their relationship could have ended.

But then he returned with a bouquet of giant flowers and promised that he did not want to waste his time. In a year, the two married and soon waited for their first child.

It was only once Russia launched her large -scale invasion that Maria understood what she had meant about the harsh realities of her work.

His daughter Yaroslava had only three months at that time. Ivan lost her first milestones: help her take her first steps, see her first teeth and comfort her during her first disease.

“When Ivan unfolds away from home, I send thousands of our daughter’s photos to help him feel that at least he is practically spending the day with us,” says Maria.

In a nearby mission, Maria put her daughter in a stroller and hastened to a control point where she could run to catch them for five minutes.

She brought her homemade food. They spoke. And they discovered that every minute together it was worth the months they had spent waiting.

Before Yaroslava could speak, she would use her little hands for a gesture that her father flew through the heavens.

“Our daughter knows that her father is a pilot,” she says. “When she had a birthday and her father ate a birthday cake in a video call, we explained that she could not be with us while defending Ukraine of the Russians.”

The family now has a professional photo taken from them every six months. “It is very difficult for me to say it, but I have to be completely honest. We never know if (it will be) our final call or meeting,” says Maria, on the edge of tears.

She feels that she has to be ready for “everything, including the worst case.”

During the first year of the war, I regularly listened to the casualties between friends. “You call your wives and you can’t find the words to say. And you fear that one day, you can find yourself in the same situation.”

Ukrainians seek concrete protection guarantees by the United States and Europe, and a greater supply of western combat aircraft, to deter Russian aggression.

The country has received a series of Mirage Combat aircraft from F-16 made in the United States, but the country’s Air Force still depends largely on the old planes of the Soviet era, just a most advanced Russian airplanes match.

Maria cautiously awaits a high fire. It could “freeze” the conflict in the best case, he says, but it is difficult for him to trust Russia.

Vladimir Putin He wants the end of Western military aid to Kyiv and shared intelligence with Ukrainiansas well as a detention for mobilization in Ukraine.

Many experts say that their demands are simply a pretext to continue the war he launched, despite the heavy Russian casualties.

They are also afraid that Donald Trump, who has publicly declared that finishing the war is one of his main priorities, could be to prepare an agreement behind the scene with Russia that would force Ukraine to accept painful concessions.

Even after a stop the fire, Maria will continue waiting for calls and rare meetings, since the Ukraine Air Force will have to remain alert for a long time.

And although there may be peace in Ukraine, he wonders if her husband will be at peace again. María says that Ivan, who has been deeply affected by the fight in the front line, has a “patriotic soul” and will continue to serve even after the war.

Maria feels that it is important for him not to feel that the victims were in vain, and is still the hope that the Russian parts of Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk and Luhansk will one day be returned.

The priority for Maria is now to reassure her husband and offer him optimism. She dreams of a future in which her young family can finally begin to rebuild her life in her own home, in her own country.

“My husband needs to know that we are always waiting for him.”