War

One thousand four hundred and forty-fourth day. Part of Belgorod is again without light and heat due to an attack by the Ukrainian Armed Forces - but Russian state media are not interested in this

Since February 24, 2022, Meduza has been broadcasting live about the Russian-Ukrainian war. We publish your letters every day because we are sure that we need to continue talking about the war. Share with us your thoughts about the war. What feelings are you experiencing? How does war affect your life and your attitude towards the world? If you have a story related to the war, tell it . The feedback form is at the end of this article. A review of the previous day can be read here .

Russia

Ukrainian military shelled Belgorod late yesterday evening. According to Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov, 12 munitions were fired into the city, as well as ten drones.

The target of the attack was energy infrastructure. According to the independent local telegram channel “Ashes,” the Frunzenskaya and Belgorod electrical substations were hit. Due to the impact, power and heat supply were lost on about two dozen streets. There are severe frosts in Belgorod now - last night they reached minus 13 degrees.

Gladkov reported serious damage as a result of the attack. He refused to give a time frame for restoring the infrastructure, citing the fact that “the enemy is carefully analyzing the current situation.”

As of this morning, it was not possible to restore power to the houses. Residents of the city, writes “Ashes,” are complaining en masse about problems with heating, electricity and water supply. In the morning, elevators were turned off in many buildings, and some traffic lights at intersections did not work. The authorities have published a list of 18 addresses where residents of houses left without electricity can charge their gadgets and keep warm.

The authorities have not officially begun to transfer educational institutions to a distance learning format - while some schools and colleges do not have heating, and students wear jackets to classes. At least one school where classes are held has no electricity.

The Ukrainian Armed Forces have struck the energy infrastructure in Belgorod, causing massive power outages, for at least the fourth time in the last month. President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky said a week ago that Ukraine intends to adhere to a mirror principle in matters of attacks on energy systems: if Russia does not strike infrastructure, the Ukrainian Armed Forces will also refrain from such actions.

Russian state media, which regularly and in detail write about Ukrainian residents freezing due to Russian strikes, actually ignore a similar situation in Belgorod. They are limited to only short notes, in which they quote exclusively official statements from the authorities about the successful progress of restoration work - and say nothing about the scale of the damage.

Thus, on the RIA Novosti website two short articles were published about the consequences of yesterday’s attack on Belgorod. One of them quoted Gladkov’s words that “reconstruction work went on all night” - without specifying what exactly was destroyed and required restoration. Another said that the city had turned off elevators “for the safety of residents”; The reason for this was said to be “power supply reconnections.” What caused them was not specified.

On the TASS website in the material entitled “Attacks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on energy facilities. Consequences of the attack on Russian regions” provided only a short quote from the mayor of Belgorod about the existing “ damage to infrastructure and disruptions in the supply of electricity and heat.”

World

Some European countries “clandestinely” continue contacts with Russia during the war, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in an interview with RT.

“We have contacts with some European leaders. They call and ask not to announce these conversations. Some appear here and make “clandestine” contacts,” the diplomat said.

According to Lavrov, within the framework of such contacts, Europeans say the same things as they say publicly. The minister reproached European politicians for taking an uncompromising position, suggesting a “strategic defeat for Russia.”

In recent weeks, there has been more and more talk in Europe about the need to resume direct dialogue with the Russian Federation, which was interrupted after the outbreak of the great war.

French President Emmanuel Macron said on February 3 that Paris is preparing “at a technical level” for a possible dialogue with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Macron emphasized that Ukraine and European countries have been informed about this. Later it became known that on the same day a representative of Macron flew to Moscow - he met with the assistant to the President of the Russian Federation Yuri Ushakov.

Some European countries are criticizing Macron's public proposals to enter into dialogue with Putin. Opponents of such negotiations believe that for any contacts with the Russian Federation it is necessary to first develop a pan-European strategy that would clearly define the goals of such interaction.

War in photographs. Zaporozhye

During the Russian drone attack on Zaporozhye on February 6, the Give a Paw Friend dog shelter was damaged. According to city authorities and shelter owners, many animals died and several workers were injured. In the photo, employees and volunteers evacuate dogs from a destroyed shelter.

War through the eyes of Meduza readers

How we choose letters

Meduza's readers live in different countries and have different attitudes towards the war. We publish your letters to see this event through your eyes. Our editors try to present all points of view, even if they do not coincide with the editorial position. However, in accordance with the Meduza code, we do not publish messages that contain “hate speech,” justify the murder of civilians, or express direct support for an aggressive war.

Anonymous reader (Moscow) . When the war first started, I felt only superficial horror. The realization that many people are dying and will continue to die for God knows how many years. But a year later I felt real fear - when I realized how much this war had split the entire society.

I was on a theatrical tour, a long trip in a compartment that I shared with a costume designer, a sound and lighting designer. We chatted, ate food together, and at some point I realized that during the four hours of conversation we were slowly and carefully “probing” each other’s positions. I expressed this thought to the sound man, breaking this foggy barrier between us, and he agreed with me with fear in his eyes.

This impression will stay with me for the rest of my life. Because if you are on opposite sides of the barricades, it changes everything. Either you are an “idiot who doesn’t understand geopolitics and supports Nazism” or a “bloodthirsty, brainwashed freak.” And how scary it is to hear that you are not on the same side.

This split, “emotional espionage” between people, when you, afraid to hear the answer, carefully test the waters, is the worst thing that can happen to society.

Share your thoughts about the war

"Jellyfish"