News of the phone call between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday, in which they agreed to meet in person to discuss the war in Ukraine, will have come as an unwelcome surprise to Kyiv.
The country is being hit hard.
The last 24 hours alone have seen Russia launch dozens of missiles and more than 300 drones at multiple targets.
Once again, they include a large amount of civilian infrastructure with further damage to the country's gas supply network, just as the first signs of cold herald a long, hard winter ahead.
Attacks on the electrical grid are already leading to nationwide power outages.
For Ukraine's government, it's a sign of Russian desperation.
The frontlines are at effective stalemate, involving huge loss of life for incremental territorial gains.
And the Russian economy is feeling the effects of the Ukrainian military's increasingly effective drone strikes on oil depots.
So, President Volodymyr Zelensky's big hope was for more American military assistance to keep up that pressure.
Before he boarded his plane to Washington, he seemed to believe that things were going his way.
There was optimistic talk about Trump beginning to see the world through Ukraine's eyes, a big shift from that angry, humiliating Oval Office exchange in February when he accused Zelensky of gambling with World War Three.
The failure of the Trump-Putin Alaska summit in August and the intensifying bombardment of Ukraine were – it was thought – all causing the US president to lose patience with his good friend, as he has called Putin.
There were high hopes that Friday's meeting would finally yield the prize Ukraine has been seeking - Trump's permission for the purchase of long-range Tomahawk missiles.
Trump's frustration with Putin was obvious when he told reporters: Do they [Russia] want Tomahawks going in their direction? I don't think so. But how much of a game changer the missiles would really be is in much dispute among military experts and, with the complicated logistics, it could be months before they were deployed.
But at the very least they would add to Ukraine's ability to strike deep into the heart of Russia and with a much more powerful weapon than any it currently possesses.
However, the phone call may have shifted the dynamics, casting doubts on Zelensky's optimistic outlook. Following his arrival in Washington, Zelensky managed to meet with representatives of defense companies, still advocating for the Tomahawk missile acquisition.
The situation underscores a complex interplay of negotiations that will continue to unfold as winter approaches, leaving Ukraine balancing a delicate diplomatic tightrope in its quest for military support amidst an ongoing war.
