Panic in eastern Ukraine as Trump entertains idea of giving parts of it to Russia

Sloviansk, Ukraine — On the beaches of Sloviansk’s tiny salt lake, where the medicinal waters provide a moment of solace from the whirling violence of the eastern frontlines just a few miles away, talk of a Ukraine land deal at Friday’s Alaska summit seems dark and surreal.

“I feel like I just float away from this reality,” said local journalist Mykhailo, in between dips into the water, from the lake’s sands overlooked by a large concrete bomb shelter. Shelling is regular near here, which Mykhailo jokingly calls “the Salt Lake City of Sloviansk.”

But the Kremlin’s proposal to US special envoy Steve Witkoff to exchange a ceasefire for the parts of Donbas that Russia has yet to conquer means this town, and those near it, could suddenly become Moscow’s territory. And even on this quiet beach, it’s caused what Mykhailo calls “panic.”

“Many of my friends want to stay here and we all will have to leave,” he said. “But frankly speaking I don’t think it is going to happen.” There is defiance, and recognition the high stakes diplomacy US President Donald Trump is engaged in with Russian President Vladimir Putin may fall as flat in execution as it has been hurried in preparation.

“What Trump did wrong he took him out of the bog – he took him out and said ‘Vladimir, I want to talk to you. I just like you,’” said Mykailo. “He didn’t care that every day Ukrainians die.”

To Ludmila, moving herself to the waters in an arm-propelled wheelchair, the salt lake is a brief moment of buoyancy that provides relief from her injuries from stepping on a land mine two years ago. It is a daily pain that leaves her unimpressed by diplomacy.

“There, they are lying,” she said, waving her hand dismissively. “For them it is all a spectacle. They decide one thing, say another, and do another. That’s always been politics.”

Across the Donetsk region, word of Witkoff’s emerging deal with the Kremlin, confused in details, and immediately refused by Kyiv, has put lives already ravaged by war into a deeper spin.

The town of Sloviansk was first taken by Moscow’s proxy “separatists” in 2014 before Ukrainian forces retook control. New ditches have been hastily dug to its west to prepare for the possibility Russia’s ongoing offensive might threaten the town itself once again. But few imagined their key ally, the United States, might entertain the idea of giving their home away.

In the town’s maternity ward, the only functioning facility of its kind for miles, Taisiya strokes Assol, her daughter born Sunday into a world where suddenly the risks of being in Sloviansk have multiplied.

“I saw the news,” she said. “That would be very bad. But we have no influence on that. It’s not going to be our decision. People will just give away their homes.”

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