Following another week of intensive and lethal Russian bombardment of Ukraine's cities, a composite image has been doing the rounds on Ukrainian social media. Underneath an old, black-and-white photo of Londoners queuing at a fruit and vegetable stall surrounded by the bombed-out rubble of the Blitz, a second image - this time in colour - creates a striking juxtaposition. Taken on Saturday, it shows shoppers thronging to similar stalls in a northern suburb of the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, while a column of black smoke rises ominously in the background. Bombs can't stop markets, reads the caption linking the two images.
The night before, as the city's sleep was interrupted once again by the now all-too-familiar booms of missile and drone strikes, two people were killed and nine others injured. The implication is clear. Rather than destroying public morale, Russia's dramatic ramping up of attacks on Ukrainian cities is conjuring a spirit of resilience reminiscent of 1940s Britain. When I visited the market - with the black fumes still billowing from the missile strike on a nearby warehouse - that sense of fortitude was evident. But there was plenty of fear, too.
Halyna, selling dried prunes and mushrooms, told me she saw little cause for optimism. In my opinion, according to the scriptures of the saints, this war hasn't even started yet. A shopper who told me she had felt her house tremble from the force of the blast was still visibly shaken by the experience. Inspiring memes about blitz-spirit are all very well, but for Ukraine, the far bigger question is not how to endure this war, but how to stop it.
And with President Donald Trump proclaiming his powers as a peacemaker and pushing that question back to the centre of global politics, another term from that same period in history is once again looming large – 'appeasement'. The question of whether Ukraine should fight against or negotiate with an aggressor has been there since Russia annexed Crimea in 2014.
But more than three years after it launched its full-scale invasion, the war is entering a new phase, and that word has re-entered the global debate. On the battlefield, fighting has reached a brutal stalemate, and Russia is now increasingly targeting Ukrainian cities far from the front line. Its aerial attacks – using ballistic missiles, explosive-laden drones and glide bombs – have gone from an average of a few dozen each day last year to nightly, and often run into the many hundreds.
What the Kremlin insists are military and quasi-military targets now regularly include Ukraine's civilian rail stations, passenger trains, gas and electricity supplies, and homes and businesses. According to UN figures, almost 2,000 civilians have been killed this year, bringing the total since the start of the war to more than 14,000.
Just over a week ago, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky set off for his meeting in Washington with President Donald Trump in optimistic mood. The US, he believed, was running out of patience with Russia. But he was wrong-footed by a surprise Trump-Putin phone call while en route, and subsequent talk of another summit between the two leaders in Budapest. Zelensky's own exchange with Trump in the White House was reportedly a difficult one, with the US president once again repeating his old talking points.
Gregory Meeks, a senior Democrat on the US House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee, called Trump's strategy weakness through appeasement. Meanwhile, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk wrote on X that appeasement never was a road to a just and lasting peace.
As Russia makes it clear that it isn't ready to end the fighting and vows instead to advance on more territory, the planned summit was put on ice. Washington promptly sanctioned Russia's two biggest oil companies – a sign, perhaps, of growing impatience with Putin. While the economic impact to Russia is likely to be minimal, it represents a major shift in Trump's foreign policy, having previously said he would not impose sanctions until European nations ceased buying Russian oil. It was on firmer ground that Zelensky found himself a few days later, meeting various European leaders in Brussels and later in London.
Even if that is the case, it's clear that a large gulf remains between the US and European view of how to end the conflict. As the situation evolves, the willingness to negotiate with Russia while bombings continue casts a shadow of doubt over the effectiveness of appeasement strategies.
