\n<\/p>\n
Olena Matvienko knows she doesn\u2019t have much to go home to.<\/p>\n
The Russians captured her city<\/a>, Mariupol, shortly after invading Ukraine. A Russian missile destroyed her old apartment building. Her daughter and her granddaughter were killed in the city. Still, Ms. Matvienko, 66, would like to return.<\/p>\n But after comments by President Trump and his defense secretary<\/a> this week signaled 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.<\/p>\n \u201cIf a part of America were taken from them, I would like to see how they would react,\u201d said Ms. Matvienko, one of about 4.6 million Ukrainians who have fled their homes<\/a> in the occupied territories and Crimea to live elsewhere in Ukraine. \u201cIt\u2019s like ripping off a man\u2019s arm or leg and then saying, \u2018Let it be as it is.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Mr. Trump has promised to bring a quick end to the war, which was set off by Russia\u2019s full-scale invasion of its neighbor three years ago. This week, he and his defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, publicly handed Moscow two big trophies before peace negotiations even start, saying that Russia could keep<\/a> at least some of the Ukrainian territory it has captured and that Ukraine won\u2019t be joining NATO anytime soon.<\/p>\n Russia has captured about 20 percent of Ukraine, including Crimea, which it seized in 2014. If the deal outlined by U.S. officials this week goes through, many people who have lost their homes in the war will have little chance, in all likelihood, of returning.<\/p>\n Going forward, there would in effect be two Ukraines: The one controlled by Kyiv, and a battered Russian satellite to the east, with many Ukrainian families divided between them.<\/p>\n \u201cThis chain of Trump\u2019s statements is a chain of humiliation for people like me, people who believed that there was law and justice in the world,\u201d said Anna Murlykina, a 50-year-old journalist who fled to Kyiv from Mariupol in 2022.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you live in a world that is crumbling under your feet,\u201d she said, \u201cthe 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.\u201d<\/p>\n In explaining the American position, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said it was \u201cunrealistic\u201d to insist on a return to Ukraine\u2019s old borders. That, he said, \u201cwill only prolong the war and cause more suffering.\u201d<\/p>\n It is difficult to say how many people remain in the occupied territories. By one estimate<\/a>, there were some six million people living there as of last June, among them 1.5 million children.<\/p>\n 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. <\/p>\n One woman in Berdiansk<\/a>, a seaport captured by Russia in 2022, said the city was slowly recovering, though few original residents remained. She said that she had not supported the Russian invasion, and that like others who stayed, she was just trying to live her life.<\/p>\n 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. \u201cWe did not betray anyone,\u201d she said. \u201cWe are living on our own land, in our own homes, and simply trying to survive in the circumstances we found ourselves in.\u201d<\/p>\n 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 \u2014 which is now near the front lines. She said she was worried about her son, who is fighting for the Ukrainian army.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s na\u00efve, I know, but I was really hoping for Trump,\u201d Liubov said. \u201cEveryone I knew said he was so unpredictable, maybe he was the man who would stop the war.\u201d<\/p>\n Now she, like other eastern Ukrainians, wonders what the cost of peace might be for them.<\/p>\n \u201cI used to fantasize about how I would return home to Melitopol, cleanse my house of these bastards, because they live there now,\u201d Liubov said. \u201cI\u2019d plant new roses, because no one cares about the garden there, and probably many flowers are gone.\u201d<\/p>\n For some families, the split is more than just geographical.<\/p>\n One 55-year-old woman, for instance, lives in Dnipro, on the side of Ukraine controlled by Kyiv, while two sons live on the other side of the front line. Her younger son, 20, is trapped in the family home in a village in Donetsk. She said she was not speaking to her older son, who has sided with Russia. <\/p>\n He\u2019s not alone. For years, President Vladimir V. Putin has fomented the idea that Ukraine as a country shouldn\u2019t exist, that it belongs with Russia, as it was during the Soviet Union. And in parts of eastern Ukraine, especially near the border, some Ukrainians have supported the idea of joining Russia.<\/p>\n Ukraine\u2019s government has long said that its goal is to restore its borders to where they were before Russia captured Crimea, but in recent months, President Volodymyr Zelensky has shifted his public stance. He now says that Ukraine might have to cede land to Russia temporarily in a peace agreement and then try to regain it later through diplomatic means. <\/p>\n Recent polls show that more Ukrainians, weary of the grinding war, are willing<\/a> to trade land for peace than ever before; in November, a Gallup poll said more than half<\/a> of respondents wanted a quick negotiated end to the war.<\/p>\n Under the Biden administration, the United States was Ukraine\u2019s biggest backer. Mr. Trump and his team, however, are skeptical of U.S. involvement in the war.<\/p>\n Without the United States in its corner, it is unclear how Ukraine will be able to keep fighting, or what diplomatic avenues are available to wrest territory back from Russia. If U.S. support stops, Europe and other allies might have to dramatically step up military aid. Already, the country is having difficulty recruiting new soldiers<\/a>. <\/p>\n Many Ukrainians in the occupied territories say they are afraid to speak, especially to family members elsewhere in Ukraine, worried that their phones are being monitored. When they do talk, like the 20-year-old man on the Russian side of the frontline and his mother in Dnipro, they opt for uncontroversial topics, like the forest or the weather.<\/p>\n Russian civilians have already moved into some occupied areas, lured by cheap mortgages and abandoned properties. Some brokers are actively recruiting Russian buyers for waterfront property in places like Mariupol and Crimea.<\/p>\n One woman in Crimea, who spoke anonymously because she feared retribution, said in an interview that she and her neighbors had adapted to Russian institutions. She said she had stayed in Crimea because she wanted to raise her children in her homeland, but there is little hope.<\/p>\n Many people are at an emotional low because of all the uncertainty, she said. <\/span>\u201cI don\u2019t understand what prospects I or my children have,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s incredibly discouraging.\u201d<\/p>\n Ms. Matvienko, the woman whose daughter and granddaughter were killed in Mariupol, gained some renown in Ukraine after fleeing that city by going back into Russian-controlled territory to reclaim her 10-year-old grandson, who had been wounded in the strike that killed his mother. <\/p>\n Her friends say that people have moved to Mariupol from the Russian republics, and tell her horror stories about life there now.<\/p>\n \u201cThey can come into any house, throw the owner out and take it,\u201d Ms. Matvienko said. \u201cThey can seize your business, your car.\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cThere is absolute lawlessness,” she added, \u201cno one to complain to, no one to restore order.\u201d<\/p>\n One friend, whom she used to chat with frequently on a social-media channel, has gone silent, she said. No one knows where she is.<\/p>\n Oleksandra Mykolyshyn and Dzvinka Pinchuk contributed reporting from Kyiv, and Yurii Shyvala from Lviv, Ukraine.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n