KYIV, Ukraine, May  20, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - 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 Turkey.

 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.