KYIV – Ukrainians have expressed shock and a deep sense of betrayal as Russia and the United States met for bilateral talks on ending the war that excluded representatives from Kyiv.
Despite criticism from European and Ukrainian leaders, Russian and US officials met in Saudi Arabia for high-level peace talks after Donald Trump held a phone call last week with Vladimir Putin.
After four and a half hours on Tuesday, diplomats from both countries confirmed that first steps would be taken to normalise relations between them.
The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, has repeatedly said Ukraine will not accept any deal negotiated without its involvement.
Alyona Kara was 13 when Russia occupied and annexed Crimea from Ukraine in February 2014. Now 24, she says she has learned that no agreements with Russia are possible.
“Their words mean nothing because they never keep their promises,” says the communications specialist who has lived in Kyiv, the capital, since 2018. “I don’t believe in a long-term ceasefire. Russia will do everything to try to take over all of Ukraine again. They won’t stop.”
Born and raised in the south-eastern Ukrainian port city of Berdiansk, which has been occupied by Russia since soon after the full-scale invasion in February 2022, Kara believes that not including Ukraine in these talks gives the impression the country has no choice and must agree to any ceasefire plan.
“I feel very angry. As a country, we’re making huge efforts and fighting with our lives against Russian aggression. The ‘art of the deal’ in talks with Russia is to point weapons at them. Period.
“Russia won’t stop until they take everything. I believe our government understands this too and won’t agree to any talks held without us,” says Kara.
Shock, upset and a deep sense of betrayal characterised many of the conversations with Kyiv residents about the discussions between Russian and US officials at the talks in Saudi Arabia.
Taxi driver Sergey, 47, never liked politics very much. “Now I’m just shocked. Until the beginning of last week, everyone had hope [President Trump] would take some real steps towards the world [for Ukraine]. Now, the way he behaves with Putin…I’m just shocked,” he tells me in his cab as he drives to the central train station in Kyiv.
When I ask what he hopes Trump will do first to support Ukraine, he brings up the rejected US request for half of its rare mineral rights. “Well, the first thing I want him not to do is to make Ukraine his colony with all our resources.
“I do not believe in the effectiveness of these negotiations or that they will lead to peace. My personal opinion is just that Trump is in his own kind of reality,” adds Sergey, who used to live near Donetsk airport before it was destroyed during the war in Donbas.
For Veronika Kupetska, 21, the talks in Saudi Arabia are another sign the country is being sidelined from its own future. “It feels unfair. Parents gather together to choose the destiny of their child but Ukraine is no child of Russia,” says Kupetska.
“American and fake Russian leaders gathering to decide the destiny of [the] Russian-Ukraine war, which Russia launched 10 years ago when they started occupying Crimea, Donetsk and Luhansk – it looks like bullshit.”
Born in the western Ukrainian city of Lutsk and working in Kyiv at an education technology company, Kupetska makes it clear that Ukraine is not just a piece of land or a resource to be exploited but a country with people fighting for not only their independence but also for the whole democratic world.
While she believes Europe understands just how crucial Ukraine is for regional stability, after the Russia-US talks Kupetska is no longer convinced that America does. “It shows us we have to be strong independent people and not have hope for America’s help.”
As we stand in a central Kyiv hotel, Polina, 21, explains that while many people in Ukraine want the war to end, they do not want to leave occupied territories to Russian control.
“I think more parts of Ukraine want the war to stop now, because it’s really hard. It’s three years of our people dying,” says the receptionist, who did not want to share her last name. She says it can be hard to live life in Kyiv due to electricity blackouts and air raids but it’s nothing compared to what people from occupied areas of Ukraine experience.
“My home is in the normal [unoccupied] territories but I have many friends from the south and east of Ukraine, and for these people, it’s a big tragedy.”
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