Law, Power, and Justice

DONETSK REGION, Ukraine — On the salty shore of Sloviansk, Sasha, a 22-year-old soldier from Kherson, sips a beer and drags on a cigarette.
— Read on www.themoscowtimes.com/

Situated just 22 kilometers from the front line, the lake of Sloviansk is one of the last fragile pockets of peace left in the Donetsk region. Russian forces have been pressing all along the front since late spring, and today, they are trying to encircle the city of Kostiantynivka. 

“Pokrovsk could fall by autumn,” one soldier tells me.

On the diplomatic front, Ukraine has had to reinvent its relationship with the U.S. under the Trump administration. Kyiv has chosen the strategy of conciliation, agreeing to conditions like an unconditional 30-day ceasefire and a rare-earth minerals deal negotiated with Washington.

At first, this approach appeared to bear fruit. Amid a diplomatic push led by Ukraine’s European partners and nights of Russian bombardment on Ukrainian cities, Trump appeared to be hardening his tone and considering new sanctions against Moscow.

But at an Aug. 15 summit in Alaska, President Vladimir Putin dangled the prospect of peace in Ukraine before Trump and suggested he might scale back his ambitions. In exchange for halting hostilities on the southern front line, Moscow demanded Ukrainian forces’ full withdrawal from the Donetsk region, some 70% of which is under Russian occupation.

Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky ruled out the proposal, stressing that Ukraine’s constitution does not allow the ceding of territory. 

More importantly, it would be nearly unimaginable for Ukraine to abandon its remaining territory in Donetsk, one of the country’s most fortified areas — and one that shields Russian advances toward Kharkiv and Dnipro, Kyiv-based foreign policy and security analyst Jimmy Rushton said. 

“Ukraine has the Donbas line, a network of fortifications stretching across Donetsk,” Rushton said. “It is well constructed, with deep anti-tank ditches, trench lines and reinforced concrete positions. Some of them were built at great expense.”