Ukraine has always called the areas under Russian control “temporarily occupied territories”, insisting that it would eventually regain control over them. But this hope seems to be erasing.

Donald Trump’s statements this week that made it clear that Ukraine was “unlikely” to take back much of her occupied land during the peace negotiations she intends to carry out with Russian President Vladimir Putin caused panic. His comment came after a 90 -minute telephone contact with Putin last Wednesday.

Yuliya Kazdobina, a foreign policy expert at Think Tank Krainian Prism, said he does not believe that the Russian leader wants peace.

“We’ve had so many years of negotiations with the Russian side,” he told CNN. “Russia has a history of attacks and violations of agreements with Ukraine dating back decades. In 1994, Ukraine agreed to abandon its nuclear weapons in return for guarantees from the United States, the United Kingdom and Russia to respect Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. In 2015, after illegally annexed Crimea and triggered the conflict in eastern Ukraine, Moscow signed a ceasefire agreement only to violate it repeatedly and then launch a complete scale invasion of Ukraine seven years later. We know that Russia can play well, but when it comes to concessions and make peace, they never make concessions, “Kazdobina said.

View from Kiev

Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelesnki gave his own response to Trump-Putin communication, saying that his country will not accept a peace agreement between the US and Russia without the involvement of Kiev.

“As an independent country we cannot accept any agreement without us. And I express it very clearly to our partners. We will not accept any bilateral negotiation for Ukraine without us, ” Zelenski said, adding that the fact that Trump first spoke to Putin “was not pleasant”.

The Russian forces currently occupy almost 20% of Ukraine’s territory, from the approximately 7% of Russia’s invasion of Russia in Ukraine.

Fears about repetition of the story

Crimea has been under Russian control since Moscow annexed it in 2014. Since then, Russia has imposed a brutal and repressive regime.

Maksym Vishchyk, a lawyer at the Global Rights Compliance, a non -profit organization that advises Ukrainian authorities on investigating and prosecuting international crimes, said Moscow has repeated the same pattern in other occupied territories.

“When Russia occupied the Crimean peninsula, a systematic targeting campaign launched communities or people who considered it to be an obstacle to the Russian campaign … with catastrophic impact on social fabric in general, but also on communities, families and individuals,” he told CNN.

“And Crimea was their book. The policies and standards and tactics (of Russia) implemented in Crimea were subsequently applied to other occupied territories. So we see the same patterns in all the occupied, both from 2014 and 2022. “

Hazardous precedent

Financial adviser Oleksandr Sokhatskyi told CNN that he believes that any agreement would be unacceptable if Ukraine’s borders change from what was before the war, due to the human cost of the years unnecessary.

The first line soldiers were also skeptical that the negotiations between Trump and Putin could produce a result that would have been pleasant to many Ukrainians.

Volodymyr Slayn, Commander of the Order in the 66th Mechanized Brigade, who is fighting near Lyman in the east of the country, said that the occupation of Ukraine by Russia could have dangerous consequences.

“It will create a precedent and show Russia that they can attack any country, understand its territory and make it unpunished in the future,” he said, adding that Russia could soon turn its attention to other smaller ones. Countries near her.

Putin has repeatedly clarified his goals: Wants to gain control of all Donetsk and Luhank areas of eastern Ukraine. But many in Ukraine are worried that even if he initially agrees on a ceasefire, he will eventually motivate further battles to achieve his final game.

“No one will prevent Putin from attacking us again and understanding another area or many more. If Europe and America do not help us, then Peace will now probably lead to war in a few years, “Sblen said.