'Politicians from many countries are just telling fairy tales, nothing has been done...blah, blah, blah'

Ukrainians losing faith in peace talks as violence continues

- ZAK GARNER-PURKIS

They have seen that, whether it is Trump or Joe Biden in the White House, no outside force has been able to affect the frontline violence or nightly drone attacks on their cities since the full-scale invasion began.

“Politicians from many countries are just telling fairy tales. For three years, nothing has been done,” said Kyiv music teacher Natalia Konorukova, before adding: “Blah, blah, blah.”

A few nights earlier, she was woken in the early hours of the morning by the tremor from a rocket attack that left nine dead.

The onslaught killed children, and many neighbours lined up to lay flowers beside the wreckage of the building flattened by a Russian warhead.

But if the intention was to demoralise civilian morale, it is not working.

“Russia and Putin do not frighten us with terrorist acts,” said resident Oleksandr Antonyuk, as he surveyed the rubble. “No matter how scared we are, we must not abandon our direction. Our way is still civilized. Putin will not break us and change our minds. We will win, it’s a matter of time.”

These days, such rousing spirit of the Blitz-like talk of Ukraine winning the war will sound as alien in Washington as it would in Moscow.

The US's peace settlements under Trump have proposed Putin keep great swathes of Ukraine. Influential isolationist voices, like Vice President JD Vance, consistently suggest Kyiv sucks it up and just takes a deal.