M26 – Should I walk away if a date (F23) says that there is no physical attraction, even though we click personality and hobby-wise?

Hey (M26) here. So, met this girl (F23) at a party. We were both drunk, but we had a pleasant chat, discovered we had a ton of similar hobbies and similar personality profiles. We both cuddled and kissed at the end of the night.

Fast forward to the second date, we agreed on simple tea – she admitted that she was bisexual and had mostly dated girls up to this point, and expressed hesitation on dating due to a number of factors. First, she’s Ukranian and the war meant that she had to seek refuge in a foreign country, and that she had to work a job with long hours that didn’t pay well. Second reason was revealed to me about 2 hours into the date, being that she was mostly into females, and didn’t feel any physical attraction to me at all. Apparently the kisses and cuddles were just due to the alcohol. Overall though, felt that we really clicked as the conversation flowed smoothly and we were talking about our hobbies.

So we kinda compromised since we had similar hobbies and personality – we both decided to give it another shot. Third date was spent playing board games and me teaching her a card game, before going for drinks. We spent over 6 hours together, mostly due to the board games. At the end of the night she told me that she wasn’t feeling any physical attraction to me, and proclaimed that nothing would even change it, and thus suggested that we be friends.

I was a little hurt – I wondered how someone can be so superficial, to throw away a chance at happiness just because of looks? It’s rare to find someone with matching hobbies and personality traits. On my end, I had seen her without make-up and revealing clothing on the second date (though she admittedly does look great with makeup) – and didn’t mind that lack of physical attraction at all, and was actually willing to accept her natural looks as her “everday face”. I genuinely liked her personality and hobbies, would have loved to grow with her in Life, and felt that it was a real pity that something so superficial stood in the way.

I think she was chasing that “love at first sight” feeling, and told her that maybe genuine relationships and love should be based on work and effort, or else it would just be lust. She countered that it would be a waste of time and money on my end to date her as she doubt that things would change from her perspective. Instead, she offered to be friends instead, and play-buddies.

I declined, saying that I had enough platonic friends, and that my own time was also limited as I was working on my grad studies. I also told her directly that I would rather build something in Life with a lady who reciprocates, though I left out any comments about physical attraction being superficial. On my end, if I were to be brutally honest, I would say I’m decent looking, in average shape, but shorter than the average male in the current country we are in, and shorter than her.

Any advice? I just felt it was a real pity that we both had a chance at happiness, but something as superficial as physical looks came in the way.

TL;DR – met someone potentially great for me, but a lack of physical attraction on her part confuses me, as I’m left figuring out how someone can be so petty.