War

One thousand and one day. Putin appears ready to discuss a truce in Ukraine with Trump. Western embassies in Kyiv await massive Russian attack

Since February 24, 2022, Meduza has been broadcasting live about the Russian-Ukrainian war. We understand that many of you can no longer follow military news as closely as before, so we have changed the format of our daily chronicle. Now published once a day, we take a closer look at several key stories that are affecting the course of the war right now. We also publish your letters in these materials, because we are sure that we need to continue talking about the war. Please tell us what you think about lifting the ban for the Ukrainian Armed Forces on ATACMS missile attacks on Russian territory. Find the feedback form at the end of this article. You can read the previous day's review here .

World

Putin is ready to discuss a truce with Trump, Reuters reported

Russian President Vladimir Putin is ready to negotiate with US President-elect Donald Trump aimed at a ceasefire in Ukraine and ending the war, Reuters reports, citing five current and former Russian officials.

According to the agency's interlocutors, Putin is generally ready to agree to freezing the conflict along the current front line and discuss options for dividing the four Ukrainian regions - Donetsk, Lugansk, Zaporozhye and Kherson. At the same time, Russia, writes Reuters, is ready to give up small sections of the territory of the Kharkov and Nikolaev regions that it holds. Putin also categorically disagrees with Ukraine’s accession to NATO, but is ready to discuss issues of security guarantees for Kyiv, writes Reuters.

Press Secretary of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov, commenting on a Reuters article at a daily briefing for journalists, did not directly deny Putin’s readiness for negotiations, but emphasized that Russia would not be suitable for “some kind of freezing the conflict.” “It is important for us to achieve our goals, which are well known to everyone,” Peskov said. He did not specify what these goals were (during the course of the war, the Russian authorities changed them several times). Vladimir Putin in July publicly called the complete withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from the territory of the Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporozhye and Kherson regions a condition for the start of peace negotiations.

In Kyiv, Reuters did not comment on the material. The Ukrainian authorities officially insist that the condition for a just peace is the liberation of the entire internationally recognized territory of the country, including Crimea. However, in recent months, more and more unofficial information has appeared in the media that Kyiv is ready to consider options in which Russia retains some of the occupied territories.

Russia

Street shelters will appear in the Lipetsk region

The authorities of the Lipetsk region have decided to purchase street shelters for large cities in the region, said Governor Igor Artamonov.

Shelters will be installed along public transport routes. Artamonov noted that this decision was made based on the practice of Belgorod, which is regularly subjected to Ukrainian shelling. The head of the region also ordered additional inspections of shelters in apartment buildings and threatened management companies that do not ensure their availability and proper condition with “response measures.”

The telegram channel of the government of the Lipetsk region notes that the strengthening of security measures is taking place “against the backdrop of statements that the West will allow Ukraine to use long-range missiles to strike deep into Russia.”

The Lipetsk region has recently been regularly attacked by Ukrainian drones.

The day before, the governor of the Rostov region, Yuri Slyusar, also announced strengthening security measures. He ordered training evacuations and checking shelters in the region. The official also noted that these orders are related to the threat of attacks by ATACMS missiles. “Long-range missiles pose a different kind of threat. This applies directly to Rostov, enterprises, and all our facilities. We need to be extremely careful in the current situation,” he said .

Ukraine

Western embassies close due to risk of massive Russian attack

The diplomatic missions of the United States, Italy, Spain and Greece in Kyiv announced the suspension of work on November 20.

The US Embassy in a statement said it had received "specific information regarding the potential for a serious air attack on November 20." American citizens in Ukraine were advised to monitor air raid signals and media reports and find out in advance where the nearest shelters are.

Sources in the American diplomatic mission told the Ukrayinska Pravda publication that the United States has information about an increased threat of a combined attack by drones and missiles. When asked whether the closure of the embassy is connected with a change in the nuclear doctrine of the Russian Federation and a lowering of the threshold for a nuclear strike, the source only emphasized that the closure of the diplomatic mission “is associated with the constant threat of air attacks.”

In Ukraine, they fear an increase in Russian shelling against the backdrop of US permission for the Ukrainian army to fire ATACMS missiles on the internationally recognized territory of the Russian Federation. Previously, Moscow called the lifting of the ban on the use of long-range missiles one of its “red lines” and warned about the inevitable escalation of the conflict in such a case.

The embassies of most Western countries were evacuated from Kyiv several days before the start of a full-scale invasion - media sources then reported that the West considered an attack imminent. By early May 2022, a few weeks after Russian troops retreated from Kyiv, most diplomatic missions resumed work in the Ukrainian capital.

War through the eyes of Meduza readers. One letter

Elena, Moscow . <…> I probably only now, almost three years later, began to perceive all this in the background. We didn’t leave [Russia], [now] we have to live, breathe, move. The son is growing up, and he is certainly not to blame for anything. I can't change a damn thing. And this helplessness is probably the worst thing.

At some point I stopped believing in the reality of what was happening. It’s as if I’m on the pages of Orwell’s dystopia or the USSR of the 1930s. The surreal, the absurd, and sheer stupidity permeates absolutely everything. Buyanova’s verdict alone is worth it. This is the last one that shook me to the core.

It is impossible to explain all this and put it into your head so that everything is logical. For the third year, like hedgehogs in the fog, we are looking for and calling for someone who will finally come and tell us the whole truth, explain and try to justify all this horror. Is this possible?

Why did this section appear?

Meduza talks about the war every day - but we are sure that reports from the front, photographs of destruction, reports of shelling and news about politicians’ attempts to agree on something alone are not enough. The story of the war is incomplete without the stories of the people whose destinies it affected, and without their opinions about what was happening.

Tell us and our readers what you think about the latest events unfolding in and around the war. We will publish some of your letters.

Please also share with us your thoughts about our new format of military chronicles. Tell us what topics you think are especially important right now. Explain what journalists don't see and what gets lost in the news. Thank you!