Ukrainians felt no closer to peace following Donald Trump’s two-hour phone call with Vladimir Putin on Monday, despite the US leader hailing the talks as a starting point for ending Russia’s war.
Trump said Moscow and Kyiv would “immediately start negotiations towards a ceasefire” following the conversation, which came after direct talks between Russian and Ukrainian officials in Türkiye.
But Putin made no commitment to pause his three-year invasion of Ukraine, announcing only a vague proposal to work on a “memorandum” outlining Moscow’s demands for peace.
“For me, it hasn’t moved in either direction,” 53-year-old engineer Vitaliy told AFP in Kyiv when asked about whether he felt the call brought peace any closer.
“This is not the first time that there are some hopes from some event, but it brings nothing,” he added.
Russia’s invasion, launched in February 2022, has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths and devastated cities in the east and south of the country.
Since taking office in January, Trump has reached out to the Kremlin directly in a bid to end the fighting, but has failed to extract any major concessions from Moscow.
The Kremlin has repeatedly rejected a 30-day ceasefire proposed by Kyiv and its allies, while keeping up its aerial bombardment of Ukraine unabated.
“These were just election slogans, nothing more,” Vitaliy said of Trump’s promises to end the war. “I had some hopes, but they were not very justified.”
Ukrainian politicians and political pundits were also sceptical about whether Trump’s efforts were bringing the war to an end.
“In reality, nothing has changed,” pro-European blogger Yury Bogdanov said on Facebook following Trump and Putin’s call.
“The game will continue.”
– ‘I don’t feel peace’ –
Despite Trump’s diplomatic overtures, Putin has shown no signs of scaling down his maximalist demands for ending the war, seeking little less than capitulation by Kyiv.
Some in Kyiv felt talks with Russia, which has seized and occupied around a fifth of Ukraine, were futile.
“There is no point in talking to the aggressor country, it is useless,” 21-year-old student Daryna told AFP.
“Talking to Russia is like hitting your head on a tree. There is no point in it.”
Victoria Kyseliova, a teacher, said she also felt no closer to a peace deal after Putin and Trump’s call.
“I don’t feel it, I don’t feel peace,” she said.
Asked about whether she was losing faith in Trump as a mediator, she said: “I never had any faith in him, and now I have none at all.”
Russian and Ukrainian officials met in Istanbul on Friday for their first direct talks on the conflict in more than three years, but that meeting also failed to yield a pause in hostilities.
Some Ukrainian pundits warned Russia was using Washington’s diplomatic efforts as a cover to intensify its invasion.
“Putin has once again successfully pulled the wool over Trump’s eyes,” Ukrainian political analyst Volodymyr Fesenko said in a post on Facebook.
“Putin’s strategy is obvious: to use the so-called ‘peace talks’ as a cover to continue and intensify the war against Ukraine.”
Trump has offered to do a “large-scale trade” with Russia once the war is over, a prospect that has dismayed Kyiv, which is seeking punishment for Kremlin officials responsible for the invasion.
Ukrainian pro-European lawmaker Iryna Gerashchenko said resuming trade with Moscow was “very dangerous”.
“The only thing that can make the killer stop is real, not token, sanctions against Russia,” she said.