Part I: Russia vs. Ukraine Trump, Putin, and Zelensky: “The Dropping Point of the Endless War”

The War Reveals “Differences in National Character

More than three years have passed since Russia invaded Ukraine. President Trump (78) of the U.S. has begun to mediate a ceasefire, and delegations from both countries have held direct negotiations for the first time in three years, but the talks have ended in failure.

Is there a resolution to this war? Professor Atsuko Higashino of Tsukuba University and Associate Professor Yu Koizumi of the University of Tokyo, who are experts on the situation in Russia and Ukraine, see the future.

Koizumi: This war has highlighted the differences in the national character of the two countries.

Higashino: “Russians who give up” and “Ukrainians who do not give up. The Russians are not resisting, saying, “Putin started the war, so it can’t be helped,” and they are adjusting to the wartime economy because they are willing to give up.

Koizumi Once Russians give up, they can endure any difficult situation. I think that is the strength of Russia.

Higashino They know how to adjust to reality and survive. In a sense, they are realists. In contrast, Ukrainians stand up against absurdity no matter the cost and think, “We will beat up the bad guys.

Koizumi So, it is not true that the Ukrainians were united against Russia before the war started.

Higashino: The Ukrainians were united because they now had a common national enemy, Russia. In the three years since the war began, the nation was able to form at a furious pace.

Koizumi It is as if we are looking at the process of national formation proposed by the political scientist Benedict Anderson in “Imaginary Communities” a hundred years later. A nation is actually artificial. Even Okinawa might have been a foreign country if its history had been different. But now, no one doubts that they are Japanese. In Ukraine, before the war with Russia, the residents of the Donbass region and those of Lviv were looking in different directions. Today, we are united as Ukrainians thanks to President Vladimir Putin (72).

Higashino: The pro-Russian people in Donbass must feel betrayed. They had sworn allegiance to Russia, but they were detained after being subjected to a kind of filtration camp where even their posts on social networking services were checked.

Koizumi Many people wonder why Russia has been able to continue the war alone for three years against Ukraine, which is supported by the West. How does it gather soldiers?　This is largely due to the fact that Russia is an incredibly disparate society. The Russian elite are extremely well educated and can speak five to six languages fluently.
On the other hand, the average worker’s level of education is unimaginably low, and they live a terrible life. The average monthly household income is 60,000 yen. These people are blinded by money and volunteer for the military. People who were barely scraping by on extremely low wages are volunteering because they dream of making a fortune. Now, if you volunteer for the Russian army, you can earn 600,000 yen a month.

Higashino: Ten times more!

Koizumi It depends on the municipality, but when you volunteer, you get a congratulatory money of 1 to 3 million yen, and if you die in battle, your family is paid about 3 million yen. Fireworks are set off and the mayor praises you, saying, “He was a fine man. People who lived at the bottom of society can become heroes.

Higashino There are stories of unpaid payments, aren’t there?

Koizumi It seems that overall payments have been made, but apparently compensation for the injured has not been paid. When I watch footage of the front lines, I see Russian soldiers walking with crutches. It is likely that they are not recognized as wounded by the Ministry of Defense and are not allowed to be discharged from the army. There are several videos taken by the Ukrainian military in which a suicide drone crashes into a soldier with one leg missing who is staggering away with a cane. We see a Ukrainian soldier who kills a wounded soldier on crutches and is happy to say, “I did it!” I can see how war can destroy a human being.

Part 2: Russia vs. Ukraine – Trump, Putin, and Zelensky: “The Dropping Point of the Endless War”

From the June 6-13, 2025 issue of FRIDAY