In eastern Ukraine, fear and disbelief over proposal to cede land to Russia

President Trump has said Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky should consider a land swap

- Ian Lovett & Ievgenia Sivorka

Vitlana Kuznetsova laid a small bouquet of roses in front of a large photo of her grandson, who was killed fighting for Ukraine in March. She isn't sure how much longer she can keep up this ritual just outside City Hall, where portraits of dozens of dead local soldiers stand. If Ukraine hands this city over to Russia—as Moscow has demanded for a potential peace deal—she will flee her home of nearly half a century.

"No, no, no, no, no," the 71-year-old Kuznetsova said on Wednesday. "God forbid that Ukraine withdraw."

Among proposals under discussion in recent international talks, one calls for Ukraine to surrender the sizable chunk of the Donetsk region that it still holds in exchange for a halt to fighting and security guarantees from Western countries.

President Trump has said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky should consider a land swap. Zelensky hasn't dismissed it out of hand, but said any territorial concessions are against Ukraine's Constitution and would require direct talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, something the Russian leader has thus far avoided.

Any deal to surrender land grimly defended for years would be a bitter pill for many Ukrainians. Kyiv still controls about a quarter of the Donetsk region, including large cities like Slovyansk and Kramatorsk. Almost everyone in Ukraine has a friend or relative who has died fighting in this part of the country.

But residents of Slovyansk, who have spent a decade living along the front line, expressed varied reactions to the proposed concession of their city. While many, like Kuznetsova, considered it a doomsday scenario, others were willing to pay almost any price to stop the fighting, or insisted that they wouldn't leave no matter who was in control of the city.