Ukrainians fear peace may strand them forever from lost homes
Trump has promised to bring a quick end to the war, which was set off by Russia’s full-scale attack of its neighbour three years ago.
Published: 05:02 PM,Feb 16,2025 | EDITED : 09:02 PM,Feb 16,2025
Olena Matvienko knows she doesn’t have much to go home to. The Russians captured her city, Mariupol, shortly after attacking Ukraine. A Russian missile destroyed her old apartment building. Her daughter and her granddaughter were killed in the city. Still, Matvienko, 66, would like to return.
But after comments by President Donald Trump and his defence secretary this past week signalled that Ukraine would have to give up territory as part of a peace deal, she is worried that Mariupol will become part of Russia. And she is horrified.
“If a part of America were taken from them, I would like to see how they would react,” said Matvienko, one of about 4.6 million Ukrainians who have fled their homes in the occupied territories and Crimea to live elsewhere in Ukraine. “It’s like ripping off a man’s arm or leg and then saying, ‘Let it be as it is.’”
Trump has promised to bring a quick end to the war, which was set off by Russia’s full-scale attack of its neighbour three years ago. This past week, he and his defence secretary, Pete Hegseth, publicly handed Moscow two big trophies before peace negotiations even start, saying that Russia could keep at least some of the Ukrainian territory it has captured and that Ukraine won’t be joining Nato anytime soon.
Russia has captured about 20 per cent of Ukraine, including Crimea, which it seized in 2014. If the deal outlined by US officials this past week goes through, many people who have lost their homes in the war will have little chance, in all likelihood, of returning.
Going forward, there would in effect be two Ukraines: the one controlled by Kyiv, the capital and a battered Russian satellite to the east, with many Ukrainian families divided between them.
“This chain of Trump’s statements is a chain of humiliation for people like me, people who believed that there was law and justice in the world,” said Anna Murlykina, a 50-year-old journalist who fled to Kyiv from Mariupol in 2022.
“When you live in a world that is crumbling under your feet,” she said, “the only thing that helps you survive is to believe in guidelines, in civilized democratic countries that uphold values. When countries like the United States cease to be pillars, there is nothing to hope for.”
In explaining the US position, Hegseth said it was “unrealistic” to insist on a return to Ukraine’s old borders. That, he said, “will only prolong the war and cause more suffering.”
It is difficult to say how many people remain in the occupied territories. By one estimate, there were about 6 million people living there as of June, among them 1.5 million children.
Some villages have been bombed so heavily that they now resemble moonscapes. People complain about the lack of sewers, water, electricity and other public services, while schools aim to indoctrinate Ukrainian children with Russian ideology.
A woman in Berdiansk, a seaport captured by Russia in 2022, said the city was slowly recovering, although few original residents remained. She said that she had not supported the Russian war and that like others who stayed, she was just trying to live her life.
The woman, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because she is scared of retaliation, said it angered her that some people in Ukraine called those who stayed traitors. “We did not betray anyone,” she said. “We are living on our own land, in our own homes and simply trying to survive in the circumstances we found ourselves in.”
Liubov, 64, who asked that only her first name be used because she fears the Russians, fled Melitopol in eastern Ukraine in 2022, moving to Zaporizhzhia — which is now near the front lines. She said she was worried about her son, who is fighting for the Ukrainian army.
“It’s naive, I know, but I was really hoping for Trump,” Liubov said. “Everyone I knew said he was so unpredictable, maybe he was the man who would stop the war.”
Now, she, like other eastern Ukrainians, wonders what the cost of peace might be for them.
“I used to fantasise about how I would return home to Melitopol, cleanse my house of these bastards, because they live there now,” Liubov said. “I’d plant new roses, because no one cares about the garden there and probably many flowers are gone.”
For some families, the split is more than just geographical. — The New York Times
The writer is a Reporter at The New York Times
But after comments by President Donald Trump and his defence secretary this past week signalled that Ukraine would have to give up territory as part of a peace deal, she is worried that Mariupol will become part of Russia. And she is horrified.
“If a part of America were taken from them, I would like to see how they would react,” said Matvienko, one of about 4.6 million Ukrainians who have fled their homes in the occupied territories and Crimea to live elsewhere in Ukraine. “It’s like ripping off a man’s arm or leg and then saying, ‘Let it be as it is.’”
Trump has promised to bring a quick end to the war, which was set off by Russia’s full-scale attack of its neighbour three years ago. This past week, he and his defence secretary, Pete Hegseth, publicly handed Moscow two big trophies before peace negotiations even start, saying that Russia could keep at least some of the Ukrainian territory it has captured and that Ukraine won’t be joining Nato anytime soon.
Russia has captured about 20 per cent of Ukraine, including Crimea, which it seized in 2014. If the deal outlined by US officials this past week goes through, many people who have lost their homes in the war will have little chance, in all likelihood, of returning.
Going forward, there would in effect be two Ukraines: the one controlled by Kyiv, the capital and a battered Russian satellite to the east, with many Ukrainian families divided between them.
“This chain of Trump’s statements is a chain of humiliation for people like me, people who believed that there was law and justice in the world,” said Anna Murlykina, a 50-year-old journalist who fled to Kyiv from Mariupol in 2022.
“When you live in a world that is crumbling under your feet,” she said, “the only thing that helps you survive is to believe in guidelines, in civilized democratic countries that uphold values. When countries like the United States cease to be pillars, there is nothing to hope for.”
In explaining the US position, Hegseth said it was “unrealistic” to insist on a return to Ukraine’s old borders. That, he said, “will only prolong the war and cause more suffering.”
It is difficult to say how many people remain in the occupied territories. By one estimate, there were about 6 million people living there as of June, among them 1.5 million children.
Some villages have been bombed so heavily that they now resemble moonscapes. People complain about the lack of sewers, water, electricity and other public services, while schools aim to indoctrinate Ukrainian children with Russian ideology.
A woman in Berdiansk, a seaport captured by Russia in 2022, said the city was slowly recovering, although few original residents remained. She said that she had not supported the Russian war and that like others who stayed, she was just trying to live her life.
The woman, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because she is scared of retaliation, said it angered her that some people in Ukraine called those who stayed traitors. “We did not betray anyone,” she said. “We are living on our own land, in our own homes and simply trying to survive in the circumstances we found ourselves in.”
Liubov, 64, who asked that only her first name be used because she fears the Russians, fled Melitopol in eastern Ukraine in 2022, moving to Zaporizhzhia — which is now near the front lines. She said she was worried about her son, who is fighting for the Ukrainian army.
“It’s naive, I know, but I was really hoping for Trump,” Liubov said. “Everyone I knew said he was so unpredictable, maybe he was the man who would stop the war.”
Now, she, like other eastern Ukrainians, wonders what the cost of peace might be for them.
“I used to fantasise about how I would return home to Melitopol, cleanse my house of these bastards, because they live there now,” Liubov said. “I’d plant new roses, because no one cares about the garden there and probably many flowers are gone.”
For some families, the split is more than just geographical. — The New York Times
The writer is a Reporter at The New York Times