'Nothing is stopping': Peace talks feel far away for Ukraine's soldiers
Sipping a coffee under the blazing sun around 20 kilometres from the front line, Ukrainian platoon commander Andriy is ready for peace.
But as Russia and Ukraine hold direct talks in search of an end to the three-year war, he sees no let up to the fighting in east Ukraine, ravaged by Russia's full-scale invasion.
"Nothing is stopping. Everything is as it was," the 27-year-old told AFP, in the town of Druzhkivka while on a break from the combat.
Hours after negotiations in Istanbul ended on Monday, the sound of Russian glide bombs flying over -- and down onto -- the town resumed. The next morning, those civilians who refuse to leave set about their daily business, meandering through streets dotted with destroyed buildings.
Andriy was clinging to hope the war will end this year, and said talks should continue, despite little sign of progress.
But asked about Moscow's hardline demands for Ukraine's army to completely pull out of the four regions Russia says it has annexed -- Donetsk, Kherson, Lugansk and Zaporizhzhia -- he is sceptical.
"That's too much, I would say. But if the border remained as it is now, then maybe."
- 'No real impact' -
Nearby, another young soldier who goes by Leleka, in his early thirties, was trying to relax.
He is just back from near Toretsk, one of the hottest spots on the eastern front where Russian and Ukrainian soldiers have been killing each other for months in a battle for the city, claimed by Russia earlier this year.
"To be honest, I haven't watched the news for a long time because it doesn't really affect the reality we face here. So it's a bit like a parallel reality," he told AFP.
After two rounds of talks that yielded only prisoner exchanges, the ginger-bearded soldier sees no point in trying to deal with the Russians.
"It does not work. Negotiations with them? How? How do negotiations work? We talk about peace, and at the same time, they are shooting at us," he said.
Moscow has repeatedly rejected calls by Ukraine, the United States and European countries for a full and immediate ceasefire.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has accused Russia of dragging out the talks and not seriously wanting to halt its invasion.
The Kremlin said Tuesday negotiations were "extremely complex" and that it was "wrong" to expect a speedy breakthrough.
Leleka said there is "no way" Ukrainian troops would pull back from territory they still control.
"The local commanders will not allow it."
For 59-year-old deputy commander Did -- a call sign which means "grandfather" in Ukrainian -- an unconditional ceasefire is the only "logical" way to end the fighting.
But he understands why Russia is refusing.
"They have more weapons, their factories are working, they have more men, and North Korea and China are supplying them. Why would they stop?"
Moscow's army will only halt their attacks, if Ukraine can deliver "a beating so bad that their teeth fall out or they swallow them," he said.
- 'Give us weapons' -
Instead of a full and unconditional 30-day ceasefire, Moscow has proposed a partial pause to the fighting -- two-to-three days and only in certain areas of the frontline.
"They really need this. They need to regroup their troops. They need to restore their logistics," Leleka said of the Russian call for a temporary truce.
Both Did and Leleka instead issued their own request for the West to step up its military support to Ukraine -- saying that could help give them a leg-up on the battlefield, and at the negotiating table.
"Give us more weapons. We know how to use them ... Give us good weapons and we will stop them. We will stop them, we know how to do it," Did said.
Standing away from the other two, Andriy, his head bowed, was thinking of home.
"I want to be with my wife, to rest," he whispered.
He has been fighting for three years and got married amid the war.
"Whatever it takes, I want to go home."
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