By Anna Magdalena Lubowicka and Małgorzata Wojtunik
SOPOT, Poland (Reuters) – It has been three years since the arrival of Russian forces compelled Oksana Sapronova and other refugees to flee their homes in eastern Ukraine for the safety of Poland. Now, there is a prevailing fear among these displaced individuals that the sacrifices made on their homeland’s battlegrounds may have been in vain.
“I simply cannot bear the thought that our brave fighters have perished in this conflict for naught,” expressed the 41-year-old Sapronova, as she sat amongst fellow Ukrainians at a cozy beachside cafe in the charming Baltic town of Sopot in northern Poland. Her brother has been actively engaged on the frontlines ever since Moscow deployed troops and tanks into Ukraine in February 2022 under the guise of a “special military operation”.
Like many other Ukrainians, Sapronova is fraught with apprehension regarding the recent talks held between U.S. and Russian officials, where Ukraine was conspicuously absent from the negotiation table. There are legitimate concerns that these discussions could potentially compel Ukraine into making distressing territorial concessions, leaving the nation vulnerable to further encroachments by Russian forces.
The recent shift in Washington’s stance towards the conflict, spearheaded by U.S. President Donald Trump who has initiated direct engagement with Russian President Vladimir Putin, has intensified anxieties among Ukrainians. Trump’s eagerness to swiftly broker a resolution to the conflict, coupled with his contentious labeling of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy as a “dictator”, has sparked uncertainty and disillusionment among the Ukrainian populace.
The abrupt discord between former staunch allies has shattered the hopes of Ukrainians for a lasting peace settlement that would safeguard the country’s territorial integrity and ensure robust security assurances. Zelenskiy and other Ukrainian officials have emphatically reiterated that Kyiv will not entertain any agreements struck without its direct involvement.
“Are we expected to place our trust, once more, in Russia and the United States that we will be shielded from harm? They deceived us once before,” lamented Olha Shkapa, a 45-year-old from Kyiv, alluding to the aftermath of the Soviet Union’s dissolution in 1991.
Following the Soviet Union’s demise, Kyiv relinquished the nuclear arsenal inherited from its predecessor under the 1994 Budapest Memorandum, in exchange for security guarantees from Russia, the U.S., and Britain.
The future of the Russian-occupied territories in eastern Ukraine looms as a pivotal aspect of any prospective peace agreement. In June of the preceding year, Putin delineated his stance on the territorial dispute, asserting that Ukraine must withdraw its forces from the four contested regions, currently under Russian occupation.
Shkapa contended that relinquishing control over the eastern territories would render the numerous civilian and military casualties incurred in the conflict utterly futile. Sap
