Olena Konovaliuk of Chicago fears she might never again see her family in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine, where she was born and raised, as Russian President Vladimir Putin demands the land be relinquished to Moscow during ongoing U.S.-led peace talks.

Giving up Donbas — or any portion of the war-torn nation — is unfathomable to Konovaliuk and many other locals of Ukrainian descent, who insist their entire homeland must be sovereign without exception or partial surrender.

Olena Konovaliuk, right, of the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine, hugs Marta Matskiv during a rally outside the Wrigley Building, Aug. 24, 2025, to celebrate Ukraine’s Independence Day and to protest the war in Ukraine. (Eileen T. Meslar/Chicago Tribune)

“This sounds threatening to me because my family is still there. It is like saying, ‘Please take off your arm and give it to us,’” she said. “I know that there are people … in the eastern region that are still fighting. They still have a pro-Ukrainian mindset and they don’t want that connection to Russia.”

The 31-year-old mother of two fled her hometown of Luhansk in the Donbas region in 2014 when Russian-backed forces illegally seized control of the area, a precursor to the full-scale war that began in February 2022 and rages on today.

“Some of my relatives didn’t survive, unfortunately,” she said, referring to both Russian invasions of Ukraine.

Konovaliuk and hundreds of other Ukrainian Americans recently celebrated the 34th anniversary of their ancestral nation’s independence with a march and rally in downtown Chicago. The event was late last month held amid continuing U.S.-forged efforts to mediate a peace settlement as the war continues in its fourth year.

Just a few days prior to the celebration, Putin had made stiff demands to end the bloodshed: Ukraine must abandon its ambitions to join NATO, no western troops can be on its land and the Donbas region must be ceded to Moscow, according to Reuters.

But local demonstrators staunchly opposed all of these stipulations, chanting in unison along Michigan Avenue during the anniversary celebration: “Ukraine belongs in NATO. Donbas is Ukraine. Free us all.”

“We know in our mind we cannot accept that. We’ve paid such a high price for this land,” said Liliia Popovych of the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America Illinois Division, which organized the march. “We know our people are going to fight. We are never going to give up our independence. Freedom is the biggest value for us.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has also publicly rejected the notion of yielding any of his country’s internationally-recognized land, whose borders were established Aug. 24, 1991, upon gaining independence from the Soviet Union.

“We will not leave Donbas. We cannot do this. Everyone forgets the first part: Our territories are illegally occupied,” Zelenskyy told reporters at a press briefing last month. “Donbas for the Russians is a springboard for a future new offensive.”

DePaul University political science professor Dick Farkas said it’s not even in Zelenskyy’s power to abdicate the Donbas region, a largely industrial area bordering Russia.

The constitution of Ukraine states that “the territory of Ukraine within its present border is indivisible and inviolable,” requiring an “all-Ukrainian referendum” to alter its boundaries.

The document also prohibits any leader from ceding Ukrainian land, Farkas said during a recent interview with the Tribune.

“I don’t think any political leader of any sort, Zelenskyy or anyone else, could accept this,” added the professor, who teaches courses on Russian politics, Putin and cyberwarfare. “It’s just not an option.”

Now American peace efforts there seem to have largely stalled.

After meeting with Putin in Alaska last month, Trump declared that peace in Ukraine was “attainable.”

Yet last week, he expressed aggravation with Putin as Russian strikes on Ukraine continued despite recent diplomatic efforts to end the war. While Trump raised the possibility of sanctioning Russia, he has yet to impose any economic consequences.

Then on Thursday, Russian missiles and drones rained on Kyiv, causing multiple deaths and injuries.

While Trump has said he’s trying to arrange direct talks between Putin and Zelenskyy, Russia’s top diplomat has indicated that Putin will refuse unless Kyiv agrees to some of his demands to end the conflict. Moscow also recently balked at proposals to establish post-war security assurances for Ukraine, which fears a future Russian invasion even if a peace agreement were attained.

People collect drinking water from a distribution point in the Donetsk region on Aug. 19, 2025. (Ed Ram/For The Washington Post)

Meanwhile, life in the Donbas region remains precarious under Russian occupation, said Konovaliuk, who hasn’t returned to Luhansk since she left a little over a decade ago because it hasn’t been safe to travel there.

“I’m afraid that I won’t ever be able to see Luhansk again,” she said.

But she speaks with loved ones back home as frequently as the spotty internet and mobile networks in the area allow. Her relatives describe substandard education and health care there, as well as a generally poor quality of life. Water supplies have grown critically low, she added.

“I am worried about them. They’ve been oppressed for lots of years there,” she said. “People there are not ready to just be given up.”

Peace remains elusive

Ukrainian supporters walk along the Chicago River as they march from Congress Plaza Garden to the Wrigley Building, Aug. 24, 2025, to celebrate Ukraine’s Independence Day and protest the war in Ukraine. (Eileen T. Meslar/Chicago Tribune)

While waving Ukrainian flags and shouting “Russia is a terrorist state,” many local marchers expressed anger and a sense of betrayal after Trump’s Aug. 15 Alaska summit with Putin.

The president welcomed Putin at Joint Base Elmendorf–Richardson in Anchorage with a red carpet and handshake, despite the Russian leader facing a 2023 International Criminal Court arrest warrant for alleged war crimes in Ukraine.

“An American soldier rolled out a red carpet for a war criminal,” Popovych said. “It was horrible.”

She said she doubts the Kremlin will respond to diplomacy or negotiate in good faith.

“Force is the only language they understand,” she said. “I really want the world to understand this.”

Farkas noted that Putin has eschewed major international events, such as the July BRICS bloc of developing nations summit in Brazil, fearing arrest due to the outstanding warrant.

“And here we are receiving him on American soil,” he said. “I thought that was really peculiar.”

The professor said he does not believe Putin is “interested in any sort of negotiation whatsoever.”

“The evidence is that (Putin) is not interested in finding a solution. I think he effectively plays President Trump like a fiddle,” Farkas added. “He’s convinced that he will persist and that Ukraine will collapse because NATO and American support will fatigue.”

Svitlana Galko, 58, of Skokie plans to return to western Ukraine, where she was born, this week to visit family and friends.

She said conceding to Putin’s demands will only whet his imperialist appetite. If parts of Ukraine were to be abandoned to Moscow, the rest of the country — and other nearby nations — would no longer be safe from Russian aggression, she added.

French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk traveled to Moldova last week to celebrate the former Soviet republic’s Independence Day as well as show their support for the country’s right to self-determination, as Moldovan President Maia Sandu warned Russia is planning “unprecedented interference” in an upcoming parliamentary election there.

“Today, our independence, our sovereignty, our peace are tested more than ever,” she said. “These are immense pressures. But it is up to us whether they divide us or stop us on our path.”

Finland’s President Alexander Stubb has opposed Ukraine ceding territory to Russia, equating it with the United States giving up multiple states.

“If someone said ‘just give away a piece of Alaska,’ would you give it away?” Galko said, shaking her head. “Me neither. I like my country. And I like the country where I was born.”

Commemorating independence

Oksana Bodnar sings along to a traditional Ukrainian song during a rally outside the Wrigley Building, Aug. 24, 2025, to celebrate Ukraine’s Independence Day. (Eileen T. Meslar/Chicago Tribune)

The Ukrainian Independence Day march culminated with participants singing the country’s national anthem.

“The glory and freedom of Ukraine has not yet perished …” read some of the lyrics, translated in English. “Our enemies will die, as the dew does in the sunshine. And we, too, brothers, we’ll live happily in our land. We’ll not spare either our souls or bodies to get freedom.”

Galko recalled that she had never expected to see Ukrainian independence from the U.S.S.R. during her lifetime.

“I never thought it would happen at all,” she added.

Then in August 1991, bells rang out at a nearby church that had long been dormant under state-sponsored religious persecution, a tangible sign of change, she said.

“You realize that the Soviet Union collapsed,” she said. “And then everything was so good. The borders were opened.”

Iryna Mulyk, 40, of Schaumburg was 6 years old when Ukraine declared independence. She was living in a village near Ternopil in western Ukraine and had been planning to wear a Soviet uniform on her first day of school.

Her mother joyfully announced that there would be “no more uniform.” Instead, Mulyk proudly donned a Ukrainian dress and carried the blue and yellow flag of Ukraine to begin first grade.

Inside the school, she watched as Soviet flags and portraits of U.S.S.R. leaders such as Josef Stalin and Leon Trotsky were stripped from the walls and thrown in the trash. The Ukrainian coat of arms and pictures of prominent Ukrainian figures were hung in their place, she recalled.

“I remember the celebration,” she said. “I remember the feeling of hope.”

Mulyk returned to her hometown in Ukraine about two years ago.

She had gone to visit her brother, who was hospitalized there after suffering serious injuries while fighting for Ukraine in the Donbas region, she said.

“How many Ukrainian people are still living in that Donbas area, eastern side? A lot of them. And they are still waiting to be rescued.” she said. “They are waiting to be liberated, freed by the Ukrainian army.”

The Associated Press contributed.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/09/01/chicago-ukranians-putin-peace-demand/