‘I protected this land… for what?’ – former Ukrainian soldierpublished at 12:50 British Summer Time
12:50 BST
Former soldier Yevhen Shibalov, from the eastern city of Donetsk, says he feels “triggered” hearing leaders discuss exchanging territories.
“I protected this land and these people… for what? Just to betray them with a political manoeuvre?” Shibalov tells BBC Newsday.
Trump has said any peace deal would involve “some swapping of territories” and it is believed one of Putin’s demands is that Kyiv surrenders the parts of the Donbas it still controls, which includes Donetsk.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has rejected any prospect of giving up the Donbas region.
“These areas are not desert or no-mans-land, there are thousands of people,” Shibalov says.
The former soldier says Donetsk is now facing a “humanitarian crisis” – citing a water shortage and high unemployment.
Back in 2012 the city was “pretty much European… with modern infrastructure, business opportunities and well-educated young people,” he tells the programme. “All of this has been lost in the past 11 years,” Shibalov adds.
After Russia seized Crimea in 2014, its proxy forces captured more than a third of Ukraine’s east.
Image caption,
Map showing areas of Ukraine under Russian military control