On the beaches of Sloviansk’s tiny salt lake, where the medicinal waters provide a moment of solace from the whirling violence of the eastern frontlines just a few miles away, talk of a Ukraine land deal at Friday’s Alaska summit seems dark and surreal.
“I feel like I just float away from this reality,” said local journalist Mykhailo, in between dips into the water, from the lake’s sands overlooked by a large concrete bomb shelter. Shelling is regular near here, which Mykhailo jokingly calls “the Salt Lake City of Sloviansk”.
But the Kremlin’s proposal to US special envoy Steve Witkoff to exchange a ceasefire for the parts of Donbass Russia has yet to conquer means this town, and those near it, could suddenly become Moscow’s territory. And even on this quiet beach, it’s caused what Mykhailo calls “panic.”
“Many of my friends want to stay here and we all will have to leave,” he said. “But frankly speaking I don’t think it is going to happen.” There is defiance, and recognition the high stakes diplomacy US President Donald Trump is engaged in with Russian President Vladimir Putin may fall as flat in execution as it has been hurried in preparation.
“What Trump did wrong he took him out of the bog – he took him out and said ‘Vladimir, I want to talk to you. I just like you,’” said Mykailo. “He didn’t care that every day Ukrainians die.”
