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Ukrainians on the threat of Trump: 'There should be no concessions because this is our territory'
In advance of Trump’s inauguration, speculation grows over what territory he could press Ukraine to abandon for a peace agreement with Russia
After fighting for nearly three years against Russia’s all-out invasion, Ukrainians now fear that their chief ally, the United States, may try to force them to forsake part of their country in a deal with the Kremlin when Donald Trump returns to the White House.
“That would mean the state betraying its own citizens,” says Oksana Zayarina, an accountant who was imprisoned and tortured by Russians when they seized Berdyansk in southeastern Ukraine. “People living under occupation are waiting for Ukraine to come back.”
No one knows how Trump plans to prove his claim that he only needs one day to end Europe’s biggest war since 1945, but the Kremlin says no peace is possible unless Ukraine gives up five provinces forever - Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, Zaporizhzhia and Crimea - and abandons its ambition to join Nato.
Any deal to legalise Moscow’s land grab is unacceptable for Zayarina and millions of other Ukrainians who are now trying to survive occupation or dreaming, like her, of returning to their hometowns when they are liberated.
https://www.irishtimes.com/life-style/people/2024/11/30/ukrainians-on-the-threat-of-trump-there-should-be-no-concessions-because-this-is-our-territory/
After fighting for nearly three years against Russia’s all-out invasion, Ukrainians now fear that their chief ally, the United States, may try to force them to forsake part of their country in a deal with the Kremlin when Donald Trump returns to the White House.
“That would mean the state betraying its own citizens,” says Oksana Zayarina, an accountant who was imprisoned and tortured by Russians when they seized Berdyansk in southeastern Ukraine. “People living under occupation are waiting for Ukraine to come back.”
No one knows how Trump plans to prove his claim that he only needs one day to end Europe’s biggest war since 1945, but the Kremlin says no peace is possible unless Ukraine gives up five provinces forever - Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, Zaporizhzhia and Crimea - and abandons its ambition to join Nato.
Any deal to legalise Moscow’s land grab is unacceptable for Zayarina and millions of other Ukrainians who are now trying to survive occupation or dreaming, like her, of returning to their hometowns when they are liberated.
https://www.irishtimes.com/life-style/people/2024/11/30/ukrainians-on-the-threat-of-trump-there-should-be-no-concessions-because-this-is-our-territory/
The article explores some of what life in Russian-occupied Ukraine has been like for the Ukrainians trapped there, from disappearances, rapes, daily oppression and torture to genocidal atrocities the article doesn't dwell on in detail, with little or no prospect that any of this would improve if the hot war was suspended or ceased with Russia retaining control of these areas.