Report from Ukraine: Former Pioneer Press reporter Brian Bonner on his home's one year anniversary of war

CATHY WURZER: Tomorrow marks the one year anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and it has been a busy week in that part of the world. President Biden visited Poland and spoke to Ukrainians about his support for their country just as Putin gave a speech in a very different political scene. Plus, China made announcements about their plans.

Over the past year, NPR News reporter Tim Nelson has been checking in often with his old friend and colleague Brian Bonner who is there. Brian is a former journalist for the Saint Paul Pioneer Press and the former editor of the Kyiv Post, Ukraine's premier English language newspaper. Tim talked with Brian earlier this morning about what's happening now.

TIM NELSON: Hey, Brian. Good to see you again. It's been now an entire year since the Russian invasion. I am talking to you here in Kyiv, seeing the city out the window behind you. What's the mood out there just days after Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin have been trading vows to fight this out?

BRIAN BONNER: Well, there's not a lot of celebration. People were happy to see Joe Biden. It was the first trip by an American president since George W. Bush. And for that, Americans are very popular here as well as the military and financial aid.

But people are also saying, hey, Joe. What about the F-16 fighters? What about the ATACMS long range missiles? What about the anti-ship missiles? And we're running low on ammo. How about some more ammunition?

So Ukrainians are coming into the very first anniversary hoping that there's not a second anniversary. But as you know, we're a long way from the end of this war. And I think the last time we talked, it was when Ukraine had liberated Kherson, the big southern Ukrainian provincial capital. And basically since we talked then, the front lines haven't changed at all.

TIM NELSON: We talked a little before about your neighborhood there. Even just out your window, you can see a destroyed apartment building there. How much of your neighbors suffered this year? What does it look like around where you live?

BRIAN BONNER: Mostly the neighborhood is pretty good, and most of it's intact. But my neighborhood is a big target because it has the headquarters of the largest power company. It has the headquarters of the state electrical transmission operator, Ukrenergo. It has the state railway all within a mile of my home.

TIM NELSON: We talked a little bit about expats leaving or people leaving, families leaving. Who's staying behind? Who's doing the fighting, and who's doing the dying still? You talk about the front lines not changing. Who's going up to them at this point?

BRIAN BONNER: Regular guys and women, too, but mostly guys. Ukraine doesn't talk about its losses very much, but the reliable estimates are perhaps as many as 100,000 dead. So there's casualties there, 100,000. 200,000 on the Russian side.

And these are regular guys. There's no full list, but people who know people post when they lose a loved one. These are a lot of people who weren't soldiers. They're just technicians or working in some other profession but decided to take up arms.

TIM NELSON: So I want to go back a little bit. We saw President Biden in Ukraine recently. He spoke in Poland yesterday. He vowed to stick with Ukraine for as long as it takes. He also pledged another $500 million in US aid. But we're hearing more and more about Congress being divided, about most Republicans not supporting this level of aid to Ukraine again.

How are Ukrainians feeling about their US allies? I mean, there even seem to be some daylight between Lindsey Graham and the administration on that request for advanced fighter jets last weekend.

BRIAN BONNER: Ukrainians are watching it very closely. I mean, they are getting to members of Congress and their votes very well. I was just at the Munich Security Conference in Germany. Huge delegation from the US Congress-- at least 50 members of Congress. Republicans Mitch McConnell and Lindsey Graham were very visible there.

And they're saying that the people in their party who want to cut aid don't represent the mainstream Republican Party. Ukrainians hope that's the case. I think that's the case. Mitch McConnell, in fact, said that the $113 billion-- with a b, billion-- that America is authorized in military and financial aid since the start of the war represents 0.02% of America's GDP gross domestic product.

If you take the Republicans at their word, the louder voices who want to cut off aid to Ukraine are on the far right and on the far left, and there's a big mainstream majority on both Democrats and Republicans that are for it.

TIM NELSON: Well, Vladimir Putin talked yesterday-- sounded very bellicose. Was there a meeting with Chinese diplomats? He's backed away from one of the last nuclear control treaties that Russia has with the United States. There are some worries on the American side about escalation in the light of that decision by Putin. But we didn't hear anything new from him in this speech. No new initiatives or how he thought the war might end. Is he just saber rattling here or has he run out of options?

BRIAN BONNER: It was a two hour rant. If he believes what he says, he's really unhinged. You should read the English language transcript. It's really amazing. He blamed the West for everything, including saying the West supports pedophilia. What's clear is that he doesn't think he's lost. He thinks he can win.

And two things are really frightening. He's mobilizing the entire country-- weapons production, ammunition production, psychologically throwing, trying to get the entire country behind this, putting it on a war footing. Aggression abroad, repression at home. And the second thing is he is really working on China to supply him with advanced weapons and a lot of weapons that China has been reluctant to do so far.

TIM NELSON: That was my next question. We saw those pictures of him meeting with the head Chinese diplomat. There was some suggestion that China was going to make some sort of peace effort here, and then a warning from the Secretary of State and the United States that they shouldn't supply lethal aid to Russia. Where do they fit in this equation?

BRIAN BONNER: Rhetorically and economically, they've been supportive of Russia and becoming a lot more aggressive, as we know in America, in terms of challenging America and the West. Yet at the same time, they're economically tied to the West. I mean, China is everybody's number one trade partner. If China is consistent-- and I heard Wang Yi's speech at Munich with their values.

They're always talking about respecting territorial integrity, sovereignty, noninterference in other nations. That should work to Ukraine's advantage in this new peace plan whenever we see this. I'm worried, and I think people are mostly worried that China sees that Russia is losing.

And just as the United States says they won't let Ukraine lose, China, I think, doesn't want Russia to lose. And I think that's where the danger comes in because if China starts supplying Russia with huge amounts of modern weapons, then this conflict is going to go into an unpredictable zone, very dangerous zone.

TIM NELSON: And what about you? You've lived in a war zone on and off for a year now. What's next for you in the coming weeks?

BRIAN BONNER: Oh, well, I'm just doing my job. I've been in and out of the country four times since the war. Unfortunately, the nation is quite fragmented now. The economy is really down. A lot of people don't have jobs, and that's what's keeping a lot of people out of the country. People want to get this war over with this year.

At the same time, they realize that they are completely very dependent on the West to give them the weapons and the money needed to end this war. The other side-- I think the plea with China is that Vladimir Putin understands he can't win this war without stronger Chinese involvement. I digressed from your question.

I mean, things are fine. Spring is ahead. I'll be back to Minnesota in the summer at least a couple of times and hope to see everybody there, including you.

TIM NELSON: Well, I think all of us join the people of Ukraine hoping there isn't a second year of this war. We wish you well and hope you stay safe and warm there in Ukraine as this conflict drags on. Love to see you again. Hope the best for you and all the people of Ukraine.

BRIAN BONNER: Hey, thanks for having me, Tim, and thanks to Minnesota Public Radio for staying interested.

CATHY WURZER: That was MPR reporter Tim Nelson speaking with Brian Bonner, a former Saint Paul Pioneer Press reporter living in Ukraine.