Uncertainty over the outcome of the various diplomatic initiatives hasn’t helped, either.
And yet opinion polls suggest people in Ukraine may in fact be more hopeful, not less.
Research by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, a pollster, suggested that in October 56% of 1,008 Ukrainians interviewed felt optimistic about the country’s future, up from 43% in May.
Sasha, a Kyiv-based financier, explains that Ukrainian morale is volatile, swinging wildly between optimism and pessimism.
“If people talk about an end to the war, they feel hopeful,” he says. “But then when the talks fail, they despair.”
Oksana, though, is pragmatic: she says that for all the fears for her daughter, they have no choice but to endure it.
“I always think it is much worse at the front line,” she adds. “There are boys and girls on the front line who suffer much, much more.