Maryna Tereshchenko still remembers the smell of the apricot trees in her Donbas home town, and clings to the hope that she will one day be able to return to east Ukraine.

Forced to flee twice — first when Russian-backed separatists took control of Lugansk in 2014, and then again as Moscow’s army invaded her new home city of Siverskodonetsk — she is outraged at the idea Kyiv should give the land up in any peace deal.

“I am just furious because they want to give away my home again,” she told AFP.

Moscow is demanding Kyiv abandon the territory and has called for international recognition that eastern Ukraine is part of Russia.

US President Donald Trump has suggested Kyiv will have to make such concessions if the war is to end.

“Why doesn’t Trump give Alaska to Russia instead?” Tereshche

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