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A Guernseyman living in Ukraine says that people in his adopted country now accept they will be at war into next year but remain hopeful of defeating Russian forces in 2023.
The Russo-Ukrainian War started in 2014 but escalated in February this year when Russia's President, Vladimir Putin, ordered a full-scale invasion of its western neighbour, unleashing the biggest military conflict in Europe since World War Two.
Russia recently annexed four regions in eastern Ukraine but Russian troops have also been driven out of thousands of square kilometres of territory by Ukrainian forces aided by supplies from many western nations.
The illegal and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine is continuing.
— Ministry of Defence ???????? (@DefenceHQ) October 6, 2022
The map below is the latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine – 06 October 2022
Find out more about the UK government's response: https://t.co/M2JV8VyFAh
???????? #StandWithUkraine ???????? pic.twitter.com/dHL65oRl6y
Pictured: The UK Ministry of Defence published information about the latest territorial status of the war.
Colin Wood, who lives in the south of the country with his wife Olga, told Express of the latest mood among Ukrainians who have remained in the country.
"No-one here believes the war will be over this year, but almost everyone is hopeful that it will end next year with victory," said Mr Wood.
"We are ok. We are watching the advances of the Ukrainian army [but] we know that the recent big gains are likely a one-off as the General Staff [of the Ukrainian armed forces] managed to trick the Russians under a total news blackout."
Pictured: Ukraine's President, Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
Ukraine's President, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, spoke with fellow European leaders yesterday at the first meeting of the new European Political Community, a platform for political and strategic discussions about the future of Europe instigated by French president Emmanuel Macron earlier this year.
The Agence France-Presse news agency reported that Mr Zelenskiy told the meeting that Ukraine must win the war so that Russia does not "advance on Warsaw or again on Prague" and called on western nations to supply his army with more weapons "to punish the aggressor".
However, in some western countries, public opinion has somewhat hardened against providing Ukraine with more military support. For example, research by Pew recently discovered that the percentage of Americans who think their country should be providing Ukraine with more support has fallen from 42% to just 18%.
Citing the recent discovery of further Russian atrocities, Mr Wood said that any indifference in western nations was hard to comprehend.
"There was yet again horror at what was found outside of Kyiv. The number of bodies is not yet known as some graves have more than one body, but there are 440 graves," he said.
"I cannot understand how anyone in the outside world can even try to justify any of this, but there are strident voices, including right wing media in the United States, supporting Putin and saying that the USA should not be providing support to Ukraine."
Pictured: Colin Wood and his wife, Olga, had made their home in Odessa, a city on the Black Sea.
Before the outbreak of war, Mr and Mrs Wood had made their life together in the southern city of Odessa. They have now lost their regular incomes - "we are down to our last 2000 Hryvna, which is £50," said Mr Wood.
"I did a video advert for a film company three weeks ago which earnt me 5000 Hryvna for three hours' work. The company will use me again if anything comes up, but this type of business is very rare due to the war.
"Our plans are still to stay here and try to survive until the war is over and we start to get back to some sort of normal."
Mr Wood previously told Express that people in Ukraine were very grateful for Britain's support of their war effort. He said that pro-British sentiment remains strong.
"I have received many comments to my face from people around here saying how sad the passing of the Queen is and how much they appreciate the support of the British people in their fight."
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