Pavlo Nebroev stayed up until the middle of the night in Ukraine's northeastern city of Kharkiv to wait for a press conference between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin thousands of kilometres away.

The US and Russian leaders had met in Alaska to discuss Russia's more than three-year invasion of his country.

But they made no breakthrough and seen from Kharkiv -- heavily attacked by Russia throughout the war -- the red-carpet meeting looked like a clear win for Putin.

"I saw the results I expected. I think this is a great diplomatic victory for Putin," Nebroev, a 38-year-old theatre manager, said.

"He has completely legitimised himself."

Trump inviting Putin to the US ended the West's shunning of the Russian leader since the 2022 invasion.

Ukraine's leader Volodymyr Zelensky, who was no

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