Ukrainian politicians and public figures have condemned the idea of handing over unoccupied land to Russia for peace, insisting the country has not been defeated and should not be forced to surrender. The reaction follows US President Donald Trump's reported suggestion that a peace deal could be reached if Ukraine agreed to give up parts of the Donbas region that Russia has failed to seize during its invasion.
Halyna Yanchenko, an independent member of Ukraine's parliament, called the proposal 'absurd from the very start'. She noted that such a move would affect hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians living in the 3,500 square miles of Donetsk province still under Ukrainian control. 'When someone brings up the idea of trading territory, we must understand that in practice it is trading people,' she said.
Oleksiy Goncharenko, an MP from the opposition European Solidarity party, dismissed the notion of surrender: 'We do not deserve to surrender and we are not in a position to surrender. This part of Donetsk is a fortress and Putin has tried and failed to take it for 11 years.' He warned that the Kremlin's offer was designed to create splits and needed to be handled carefully.
Ukrainian public figures also expressed disgust at the warm reception given to Russian President Vladimir Putin by Trump in Alaska. Cartoons and memes circulated online, with one showing a glum Trump whose red tie becomes a carpet for a laughing Putin. Serhii Sternenko, a drone fundraiser, described the sight of US soldiers kneeling to straighten the red carpet as 'dishonored'.
Serhii Kupavykh, a former resident of Kramatorsk, said giving up the city would amount to 'a defeat in the war, which will lead to a split in society'. He argued that President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had 'no right to resolve such issues unilaterally' and that such a move would be 'political suicide for the entire government'.
