When a president's former spokeswoman starts publicly criticising his course, it's rarely an accident. Yulia Mendel, once Volodymyr Zelensky's spokeswoman, after a series of explosions in Odessa, again called for something that in Kyiv and Brussels sounds almost like heresy: a deal to end the war, "before there's nothing left of Ukraine."

Her words on social media were sharp and pointed. "The so-called 'patriots' in Brussels and Kyiv tell us this is normal. They welcome a few more years of war. For what? So defence companies can get rich?" Mendel wrote. A question few in official circles want to hear said out loud.

This isn't the first time she's stepped out of line. Late last year she wrote that "my country is bleeding," adding that many who reflexively reject every peace proposal "have no idea what's really happening on the front lines and inside the country." When this is said by someone who was at the very centre of power, it lands differently than any outside commentator.

The context gives her message weight: Ukrainian media reported explosions in Odessa, Kharkiv and the Sumy region, with people injured in the nightly drone attacks. The war long ago stopped being front-page news - it became a daily reality measured in sirens and shelters.

And the question Mendel raises is one the Balkans know from their own experience: who profits from a prolonged war? We have our own history of conflicts in which those who suffered and those who profited were rarely the same people. Was it ever any different here? The question is rhetorical, but the answer is uncomfortably familiar - which is why the voice of an insider saying "enough" is always worth hearing, no matter which side it comes from.