Ukrainians are preparing for a longer war while Trump removes the ceasefire call

Hence Olena Boiko lives in Sumy, a Ukrainian city under relentless bombardment by Russia, the idea that President Trump could fall back from his role by trying to end the war in Ukraine was disappointing but barely surprising.

Trump’s diplomatic effort was a “theatrical performance that has nothing to do with the reality of trenches or bombs shelters,” said Boiko on Tuesday.

She and her family, she said, had suffered immense losses and desperately wanted war. “My daughters and I lost the most precious thing to this war-my husband, their father and my childhood house, which was destroyed in its foundation,” she said.

Trump took office declaring that he could quickly put an end to war. But after a phone call on Monday with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, Trump suggested that he was ready to step back.

For many Ukrainians, the appeal was the last panting of a chaotic process which, according to little, had a chance of success as long as Washington refused to put pressure on Moscow. And that means that the devastating war rages.

Trump did not seem to have demanded Russia concessions or have been offered. He abandoned his appeal to an immediate ceasefire and said that only Ukraine and Russia could resolve their differences.