KYIV, Ukraine — In the first months of the war, Yulia Fedotovsky found a coping mechanism to help her sleep at night: She scrolled through Telegram every evening and saw photos of burned and blown-up dead Russian soldiers.
Initially, she said, seeing the pictures helped her feel safer. But now that the conflict has dragged on, he said he is tired of war. She tries to avoid messages and no longer derives pleasure from photographs.
“I would scroll through Telegram every evening before going to bed, otherwise it was difficult to sleep,” said Ms. Fedotovsky, 32, a public relations manager at an information technology company. These days, she says, “I’ve realized and accepted that I could die at any moment, so I live my life.”
Russia has been making steady territorial gains in nearly five months of bloody war, leaving many Ukrainians angry and defiant.
Lysisansk fell over the weekend, handing over the hotly contested eastern province of Luhansk to Russia, including the worst attacks on civilian targets since Russia invaded in late February. A missile attack hit a shopping mall in the city of Kremenchuk, killing at least 20 people. A strike in a resort town near Odessa killed at least 21 people. A strike on a residential building in the capital breached the city’s fragile defences.
The diversion of Russian troops from the capital at the end of March gave Ukrainians a strong sense of pride in their country and army, and confidence that victory would be swift. However, as the fighting shows little sign of abating, people are angry about losses and expressing frustration that the Ukrainian government is underestimating the challenges ahead in an effort to boost morale.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyi, who charmed the world with his determination and green shirt, continues to address Ukrainians with conviction and defiance in late-night speeches.
“Something needs to be done about the policy of informing people,” Sergei Neredin, a journalist and former deputy head of the Ukrainian State Film Agency, wrote on Facebook.
Ukrainian officials justified the withdrawal of their troops from the eastern city of Severodonetsk, noting that it would help protect Lysysansk, its last major stronghold in the Luhansk region. Then Lysizansk fell.
“Almost every day we are given weapons, more and more powerful, and the footage shows how they crush the enemy in cold blood,” he wrote. “How should we perceive information about our achievements, power and weapons distribution in the future?” he asked. “Read between the lines or take them at their word?”
The war has triggered a major humanitarian crisis, forcing millions of people from their homes and severely affecting the livelihoods of Ukrainians.
According to a poll released this week by the National Democratic Institute, only 5 percent of Ukrainians report living comfortably on their current income.
However, the majority of Ukrainians are against the armed forces and Mr. According to the survey, they also have strong faith in Zelensky.
Svitlana Kolodiy, 34, a crowdfunding expert who was raising money to support Ukrainian soldiers, said she was resigned to the war continuing beyond the fall.
And few Ukrainians are interested in reconciling with Russia. The NDI poll found that Ukrainians are “uninterested in trading land for peace.” Eighty-nine percent of respondents said the only acceptable scenario was the return of all territories occupied by Russia, including the Crimean peninsula, which Moscow annexed in 2014.
“There is no compromise with Russia,” said Mariana Horchenko, a 37-year-old dental worker from Kiev. “Not after all the people killed.”
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