Ukraine is exhausted. But it鈥檚 still determined to resist Russia.
| Lviv and Kharkiv, Ukraine
Three years since Russia鈥檚 all-out invasion, Ukraine鈥檚 growing war fatigue groans from cities and villages subjected to daily bombardment, rolling blackouts, and grim news from the front lines.
Far from the front, at an artists caf茅 in Lviv, Oleksandr grows visibly more stressed with every word he speaks about the depth of his exhaustion.
His mind is at 鈥�1% charge, and it鈥檚 not charging. It鈥檚 like a broken battery,鈥� says Oleksandr, who hails from Sieverodonetsk, a city in Ukraine鈥檚 industrial far east that fell to Russian forces within months of the invasion. (Like some others interviewed, Oleksandr gave only one name.)
Why We Wrote This
A story focused onIf Russia鈥檚 plan to quickly defeat Ukraine failed, its fallback seemed more assured: a war of attrition in which the larger and stronger nation would prevail. With Western help, Ukraine has endured, but fatigue is setting in just as U.S. support is flagging.
鈥淲e see the rhetoric of [U.S. President Donald] Trump and some others, saying, 鈥榊ou need to negotiate,鈥欌�� he says. 鈥淩ussians say they are ready to talk, but they don鈥檛 care about this. They need to destroy Ukraine. ... It鈥檚 simple.
鈥淎ll this is very depressing; that鈥檚 why people are tired.鈥�
But then the young artist catches himself, and puts his depression 鈥� and the nation鈥檚 fatigue 鈥� into a broader context. As a student in the relative safety of Lviv, he has little right to be exhausted, he says, compared with soldiers in ice- and mud-bound trenches.
鈥淲hen you hear this phrase, 鈥楿krainians are tired of war,鈥� it is information warfare, because for Russians, it is important to create the impression that Ukrainians will not continue to fight, that we will not resist,鈥� Oleksandr says.
Until now, the United States and European countries have spearheaded efforts to enable Ukraine to push Russian forces out. But their tens of billions of dollars鈥� worth of weapons and financial aid have shown mixed results. Russia now occupies some 20% of Ukraine鈥檚 territory.
鈥淣obody wants to give up territory and the people who are now under occupation,鈥� Oleksandr adds.
Yet Ukraine鈥檚 narrowing options came into sharp focus Feb. 12, when President Trump announced that during a 90-minute call with Russian President Vladimir Putin, he had started negotiations with Russia to end the war.
The phone call put an end to Washington鈥檚 three-year refusal to deal with Mr. Putin 鈥� the target of an International Criminal Court arrest warrant for war crimes. Mr. Trump said the two had discussed the 鈥済reat benefit that we will someday have in working together.鈥�
The same day, U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth appeared to endorse two key Russian demands. He told a gathering of Ukraine allies in Brussels that it was 鈥渦nrealistic鈥� for the country to envision restoring its 2014 borders or joining the NATO alliance.
Ukrainians voice concern that any White House plan will simply freeze the conflict, after they expended so much blood and treasure to regain their land.
A shift in opinion
A poll by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology found last December that 38% of Ukrainians are ready to make territorial concessions in exchange for peace, up from 32% in October. Yet it also found that 51% of Ukrainians rejected the idea of giving up any land to Russia, ever.
Maria Avdeeva, a security analyst with the Foreign Policy Research Institute, says she has noted a 鈥渧ery clear shift鈥� in public opinion over the past year. While Ukrainians still define victory as recapturing all the country鈥檚 land, she says, many now believe that this will not be possible in the short term.
鈥淚t鈥檚 not that Ukraine is ready to give up territory to Russia,鈥� says Ms. Avdeeva. 鈥淏ut more people are ready to say, 鈥極K, we stop now and get more resources, get more prepared, and then get back what is ours.鈥欌��
Addressing the issue of fatigue, she recalls that early in the war, Ukrainians had 鈥渉ope that we would be able to end the war soon.鈥�
鈥淚t would have been very difficult to fight as hard if people had known the war would last for years,鈥� she says.
Yet today Ukrainians are still pushing back, in ways large and small.
In Ukraine鈥檚 second-largest city, Kharkiv, for example, less than 20 miles from the Russian border and subjected to frequent attack, a new apartment block rises defiantly amid the ruins of the Saltivka District.
鈥淭his project brings me a lot of joy; I鈥檓 very happy,鈥� says Nelly Kazanzhieva, head of the district administration, breathing in the strong scent of fresh paint in the near-finished building 鈥� one of 24 rebuilt in 2024.
鈥淚 can imagine when they clean this place, and put up paintings and flowers, it will be beautiful,鈥� Ms. Kazanzhieva says over the sound of distant artillery. 鈥淲e love Ukraine and love our city. People should not be left without hope.鈥�
Debate in the trenches
For the Ukrainian crews of U.S.-made Stryker fighting vehicles, dug deeply into the frozen front line, the question of whether and how to carry on is hotly debated.
鈥淚f the U.S. stops supplies, we are [in trouble],鈥� says Mykola Onyschenko, a Stryker gunner. 鈥淚t is better to stop the war 鈥� we are tired; we want to go home finally, after three years.鈥�
Retorts driver Marin Bruzha, in the same bunker, 鈥淚t鈥檚 not a good idea, because what else are we fighting for, if not for our land?鈥�
鈥淚 don鈥檛 think we have enough arms, resources, and human power to recover our territory occupied by Russians,鈥� replies Mr. Onyschenko. 鈥淚t鈥檚 just not possible now.鈥�
The continuing cost is clear in Bohodukhiv, where a woman stands before a memorial to dozens of fallen soldiers, tenderly stroking one portrait.
鈥淚 am upset 鈥� at this point I am not sure why my husband gave his life,鈥� says Olena Panchenko. Her husband, Serhii Oksenych, was conscripted last July and sent to the front with little training.
Russia 鈥渃an take Donbas; I have never been to Crimea,鈥� says Ms. Panchenko. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 care. Just stop people dying.鈥�
鈥淲e are still here鈥�
The high price of resistance is also obvious in Ukraine鈥檚 cemeteries, where blue-and-yellow flags mark soldiers鈥� graves.
鈥淓very Sunday we have a funeral. A lot of young guys are dying,鈥� says municipal worker Volodymyr, whose team tends a frigid, windblown cemetery in Pyriatyn, east of Kyiv. 鈥淓very day it is getting harder and harder.鈥�
Still, many Ukrainians are proud of how they have survived since February 2022, when many in the West 鈥� and many Ukrainians 鈥� expected a swift Russian victory.
鈥淓very time I say people are exhausted ... I see something like a missile hit, and see how people are reacting,鈥� says Kira Rudik, a Ukrainian member of parliament: 鈥淧eople coming together as one.鈥�
鈥淣o matter how hard everyday life, and no matter how hard the news that we are receiving, we have not fallen. We are still fighting every day,鈥� says Ms. Rudik.
No matter the dark mood, she says, 鈥淲e are still here.鈥�
Oleksandr Naselenko supported reporting for this story.
