Zürcher Nachrichten - 'Just a show': Ukrainians believe Russia wants war, not talks

The bombardment knocked out lighting and heating to Ukrainians in freezing temperatures, but it also sent a signal, according to Kyiv, of Russia's true intention: to fight on.

"Peace efforts? Trilateral meeting in the UAE? Diplomacy? For Ukrainians, this was another night of Russian terror," Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga wrote, as emergency services surveyed the destruction.

The talks brokered by the United States are the latest diplomatic initiative in the brutal war launched by Russia nearly four years ago -- all of which have failed to end the fighting.

Announcing the fresh talks last week, President Volodymyr Zelensky issued a key warning. Putin, he said, "really doesn't want" peace.

- 'Endurance of our people' -

Zelensky has said for months that Russia must be forced into real negotiations through biting sanctions on it and accumulated battlefield losses.

The two sides are in deadlock primarily over the fate of strategic eastern Ukrainian territory. Russia says Ukraine's forces must withdraw. Kyiv refuses.

Zelensky's scepticism over whether Russia genuinely wants to end the war through talks is widespread among Ukrainians, who have suffered years of relentless assaults that have displaced million and killed tens of thousands.

"It's all just a show for the public. Russia will not sign any agreements. We must prepare for the worst and hope for the best," Kyiv resident Petro told AFP.

"These negotiations don't even give us any hope for the better. Our only hope is in the endurance of our people," another resident, Iryna Berehova, 48, said.

Previous rounds of talks since Moscow invaded -- in Turkey multiple times, Saudi Arabia, Switzerland and Belarus -- have seen no let up in the killing or Russian bombardments.

This time, scepticism in Ukraine extends not only to the Russians, but to the American mediators.

Since returning the White House last year, Donald Trump has on multiple occasions voiced pro-Kremlin talking points and a willingness to give concessions to Putin.

Polling shows Ukrainians have gradually lost faith in the United States as a reliable broker. One survey found 74 percent said Trump was bad for their country.

More than just the format of the negotiations, the two sides remain far apart on what a potential deal would look like.

"There won't be any quick, concrete or effective results now or in the near future, because the positions are fundamentally different," Ukrainian political analyst Volodymyr Fesenko said on state-run television.

Russia is demanding that Ukrainian forces withdraw from Donbas, an industrial region in the east that has suffered the worst of fighting and was partially controlled by Russian forces before the full-scale invasion.

- 'Hit a dead end' -

But this is a politically and militarily fraught prospect for Ukrainians who believe Russia will continue its attacks anyway.

Zelensky is seeking robust security guarantees from allies to deter future attacks from Moscow's army.

"If the Russians insist on discussing only the Donbas issue and the withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from Donbas, and the Americans agree to that, then -- after a while -- the talks will hit a dead end," Fesenko, the analyst, added.

The Kremlin has said the talks were held in a "constructive spirit" but cautioned that there was still "significant work ahead".

A source in the Ukrainian presidency told AFP that negotiators were still engaging with the talks despite this widespread belief that Moscow wants to keep fighting.

The hope is that Trump will see that Russia is the obstacle to peace, not Ukraine, lose patience with Putin, and then "we will get more weapons", the source said.

With the next round of talks expected later this week, there are some that still hold out hope.

"Everyone has been waiting for this," he told AFP in the mining town that Russian forces are inching towards.

"It's not realistic to beat the Russians on the front line, so we have to come to some kind of agreement. The military understands this," he added.

L.Muratori--NZN