ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Ukrainians and Russians living in the Kurdistan Region are eagerly awaiting positive results from the ongoing peace talks between their countries, hoping they will bring an end to years of devastating war.
Regina is thousands of kilometers away from her homeland, Ukraine, but her heart remains there. The country that has been caught in the flames of a destructive war with Russia for three years. However, there is hope that the ongoing peace talks will bring an end to the conflict, which has been raging for more than three years.
She came to Erbil two years before the war, but both her brothers are at the frontlines.
"I do not know what should happen. To be honest, if you look at Trump and Putin and their discussions and how they treated our president, a miracle needs to happen. I want this war to stop. Now my two brothers are in the war, my mother is alone at home, she is 70 years old. Our parents did not deserve to be in this situation, because bombs explode every day," she told Rudaw's Lilia Mirautsa.
Enola is from Russia. She is married to a Kurdish man and hopes that after her short visit to Erbil, she will return to a country that has declared peace.
"I do not know what will happen next, but like everyone in the world, I want peace. I want there to be no problems. I want us not to be angry with each other, because we are all the same," she said.
Zhiyar, her husband, became a doctor in Russia and is from Soran, a border region not unfamiliar with war. He also calls for peace.
More than 12,000 civilians have been killed since Russia launched its military campaign against Ukraine in February 2022. An estimated 3.7 million Ukrainians have been displaced internally, while around 6.1 million have sought refuge in Europe and beyond, according to United Nations data.
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