War

One thousand one hundred eighty-nine day. Merz states that the Ukrainian Armed Forces received permission to fire long-range weapons at Russia many months ago

Since February 24, 2022, Meduza has been broadcasting live about the Russian-Ukrainian war. We publish your letters in our daily materials because we are sure that we need to continue talking about the war. Russia is bombing Ukraine even more violently than in the spring of 2022. Ukraine responds with attacks on Russian cities. Did this affect you personally? Please tell us about your experience. A review of the previous day can be read here .

World

Russia wants to hold a second round of negotiations in Turkey

Russia believes that Türkiye would be a suitable platform for holding a second round of negotiations to end the war, according to statements by Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

“As for the negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, if you ask me, I would again turn to our Turkish friends - Istanbul is very good,” said the Russian Foreign Minister.

Lavrov made this statement at a joint press conference with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, who arrived in Moscow the day before. Fidan on Monday already held meetings with Russian President Vladimir Putin and the head of the Russian negotiating delegation, Vladimir Medinsky.

It was officially stated that the main topic of Fidan's visit would be bilateral relations between Russia and Turkey, but the Russian-Ukrainian war was also discussed at the meetings. According to a Turkish source for Reuters, Putin and Fidan, in particular, “discussed recently implemented peace initiatives and events that occurred after the negotiations in Istanbul.”

Fidan is expected to visit Kyiv at the end of the week, where he will discuss the continuation of negotiations in Istanbul with Ukrainian officials.

The timing of the new meeting is still unknown. It was assumed that the parties would agree on it after the exchange of prisoners, an agreement on which was reached at the first negotiations in Istanbul. The exchange, during which a thousand people were released on each side, took three days and ended on May 25.

Previously, the Vatican was also mentioned as a possible location for new negotiations - in particular, US President Donald Trump spoke about this to European leaders during a discussion of the results of the first meeting in Istanbul. Russia, however, rejected the possibility of negotiations in the Vatican - Lavrov, in particular, called the situation when “Orthodox countries discuss issues on a Catholic platform” “inelegant.”

Ukraine

Merz: restrictions on the use of long-range weapons for the Ukrainian Armed Forces were lifted many months ago

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said that restrictions on the selection of targets for long-range weapons that Western countries supply to Ukraine ceased to apply several months ago.

The day before, Merz said that “there are no longer any range restrictions for weapons supplied to Ukraine.” These words were perceived by the media as a change in Germany's position on the use of weapons. Mertz’s statement was also commented on in the Kremlin - Russian Presidential Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov said that these were “quite dangerous decisions, if there were any.”

However, after this, German Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil stated that Germany's position on weapons had not really changed. “There is no new agreement that goes beyond what the previous government did,” he said. Against this background, today Merz actually disavowed his yesterday’s statements and said that the changes he described occurred “several months ago.”

“The issue of limiting the range of deployed weapons played a role several months and several years ago. “As far as I know, and as I said yesterday, the countries that introduced range restrictions have long abandoned these requirements,” said the German Chancellor. “In this regard, yesterday in Berlin I described what has been happening for several months: namely, that Ukraine has the right to use the weapons it receives, even beyond its borders, against military targets on Russian territory.”

Today, commenting on Merz’s new statements, Peskov again called the decision to lift restrictions an escalation, which “probably most seriously contradicts the attempts towards a peaceful settlement that are now being made.”

Germany is the only one of Ukraine’s largest allies that has not yet supplied Kyiv with long-range weapons, unlike the United States, France and Great Britain. Previous Chancellor Olaf Scholz consistently refused to send German Taurus missiles to Ukraine, explaining that such deliveries could lead to escalation.

Scholz's position was repeatedly criticized by both international allies and politicians in Germany itself; Friedrich Merz himself, who until recently was in the parliamentary opposition, did this. However, after coming to power, Merz did not supply Taurus to Ukraine. In mid-May, he said that the issue was now “not on the agenda” and that the importance of these missiles in public debate was “overrated.” At the same time, Merz noted that Berlin does not intend to officially report in the future what specific weapons are being supplied to Ukraine.

War through the eyes of Meduza readers

Anonymous reader (Russia). Yes [war gives me] ass feelings. My future was taken from me. The future of the children was taken away. At least they tried - I hope that they will grow up and bring him back […].

An endless feeling of pity for people whose destinies are distorted. Hundreds of thousands of men who have yet to seek the answer to the question “What did we fight for?” Who remembers Afghanistan now? What the Afghans fought for, how they returned, morally broken. It will be just as painful, because the authorities have an answer to this question only for TV, for propaganda, but there is no actual answer, they are afraid to voice it […].

Will the war end soon? No, I don't think so. Yes, perhaps I hope for a truce. Everyone really wants a truce, a respite. Just a break from this endless pressure. But we are too deeply driven into our ass to just turn off the war just like that. It is impossible, having beaten a neighbor and not giving up claims to his apartment, to go home for lunch and stop hating. To end the war, you must either destroy the enemy or forgive him while he is alive. We were unable to destroy, but to forgive... well, well, turn on the TV or just listen to your neighbors on the bench. Putin accuses Ukraine of preparing for new attacks during the truce, but in fact he will do this - certainly to no lesser extent. In general, many of the statements of our politicians can be read in reverse.

How is the war affecting me right now? I'm far away from her now. But it makes me sad. It is difficult for me to build my personal future and present in such conditions. During the entire war I never went to the cinema. I never went to the former McDonald's. I have never traveled abroad (although I really want to go to the warm sea). Many people try to live as before. Although if they had imposed on themselves at least minimal asceticism, one that was personally within their power, I believe a lot would have changed. Just spend less. Avoid unnecessary things wherever possible. Turn the pedals of the war economy as little as possible. This is the safest form of protest possible. People do not understand how Ukrainians and Russians live in the border areas. And everyone should try this on themselves.

My attitude towards what is happening has not changed in any way in three years. Thank you, my memory hasn’t faded yet, and I remember very well the shock when the first missiles flew towards Kyiv and the tanks came. On the very first day I realized - God grant that this war ends before our children grow up.

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