SAN DIEGO (KGTV) – It’s one thing to see the war in Ukraine happening thousands of miles away.
“I don’t see any sign of slowing down of the war on the front lines,” Mira Rubin said.
Rubin, who’s from San Diego and with the organization Shield of Freedom, is there right now in the city of Lviv after traveling from Kyiv and 20 miles from the front lines.
“The situation on the front lines is pretty horrific right now. So, as a civilian being in this country, I didn’t not feel in danger really. Although you hear air raids pretty much constantly,” Rubin said.
Those in Ukraine, in Russia, and the rest of the world are hearing a new development in the war on Friday.
During peace talks in Turkey, Russia and Ukraine agreed to a prisoner exchange to happen at yet to be undetermined time. The terms are 1,000 people for 1,000 people.
“I mean this is the largest prisoner exchange which is good,” Rubin said.
ABC News is reporting both Russia and Ukraine agreed to present their visions for a ceasefire.
“We deserve to have freedom. God is freedom, he give us freedom,” Father Yurii Sas of St. John The Baptizer Catholic Church, said.
Sas is a priest at a Ukrainian catholic church in San Diego County.
Sas told ABC 10News there’s no choice but to have hope that this prisoner exchange can turn into more substantive peace conversations.
“We always have hope and we trust to God that he will help us. It’s a small step but, at least it’s something,” Sas said.
But some are less optimistic.
“Unless there’s some serious pressure from the world, I do not have huge hopes for this,” Rubin said. “Even though this prisoner exchange is a great thing and very grateful to, you know, Middle Eastern partners who were involved in this and made this happen, I really don’t see this…I don’t know. I really hope I’m wrong.”
