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War
One thousand three hundred and ninetieth day. Zelensky is trying to rewrite Trump's peace plan. He is ready to limit the number of Ukrainian Armed Forces, but only at the current level
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. Share with us the thoughts you have about the war. What feelings are you experiencing? How does war affect you, your life, the lives of your loved ones and your attitude towards the world? The feedback form is at the end of this article. You can read the previous day's review here .
Ukraine
The Wall Street Journal wrote on December 13 that Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky’s response to the US peace plan can be described with the words “yes, but...”. The publication notes that Zelensky “wants to take a constructive approach to the White House’s proposal without losing the trust of his people.”
Thus, Zelensky is ready to hold elections in Ukraine, but for this there needs to be a ceasefire. The President of Ukraine believes that Russia can retain some participation in the work of the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant, which it seized at the beginning of a full-scale war, but the nuclear power plant should be controlled by Ukraine and the United States. Zelensky agrees that the size of Ukraine's army can be limited, but only at the current level.
Ukraine presented its response to the US peace plan on December 10, Axios previouslyreported . Kyiv prepared a response after consultations with European allies. The response contains comments and proposed amendments “to make this all doable,” an unnamed Ukrainian official told Axios.
The original US plan called for Ukraine not to join NATO, to hold elections within 100 days, and to leave some of its territory in the Donbass that Russia had not yet seized.
According to The New York Times, in its response, Kiev stated that Ukraine must maintain control over its territories in the east of the country, where the Ukrainian Armed Forces are currently located.
The United States proposed turning the territory in Donbass, which is controlled by Ukraine, into a “free economic zone” or “demilitarized zone.” The US plan assumes that Ukraine will withdraw its troops, and the Russian military will not be able to enter there. According to WSJ, Zelensky did not reject this proposal completely, but asked for more detailed information. He asked what would prevent the Russian Armed Forces from advancing further if Ukraine leaves there. Or what will prevent Moscow from infiltrating the zone under the guise of civilians in order to control it?
In addition, as The New York Times writes, Ukraine wants to maintain, at least formally, the principle of NATO’s “open door policy.” Kyiv also demands that guarantees of protection against future possible Russian aggression be legally enshrined. According to Axios, the United States is ready to provide Ukraine with security guarantees based on NATO's Article 5, which will be approved by Congress. Against this background, the Kremlin said that Zelensky would be “reinforced concrete” and “a million percent” unable to ensure Ukraine’s accession to NATO.
According to the Financial Times, Kiev, in its response to the US peace plan, also proposed that Ukraine join the European Union by January 1, 2027.
As the WSJ notes, “this weekend” Zelensky will have the opportunity to personally express his position to Washington when he meets with US Presidential Special Envoy Steve Witkoff in Berlin. According to various sources, the meeting could take place either on Sunday, December 14, or on Monday, December 15. The meeting, as previously reported , will be attended by the leaders of Germany, France and Great Britain.
War in photographs. Odessa
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.
Karina (Linz, Austria) . I left the Russian Federation by June 2022, because I understood that I could not live in such a country. Many of the decisions and statements that I heard from politicians in Moscow seemed inadequate to me, but this is what life did not prepare me for - that in a couple of years I would blush even more at what politicians in Europe are saying.
If we abstract from my personal views, from which version of events is accepted in Europe and which in Russia. How can the main person in NATO seriously go to the podium and confidently say: we are Russia’s next target . What the hell? Who told you this? Why did you decide this? You say that the Russian economy is destroyed, it only has a few weeks left, and then you predict that it will attack you in 2027. You say that Russia has achieved nothing in Ukraine on the battlefield - and then you call for investing billions of euros to protect Europe from it.
Peace plans are a separate circus: politicians proudly report on how they edited them, how they removed everything that was beneficial to Russia. Are you sure you understand the concept of negotiation correctly? Your task is to reach an agreement in order to somehow stop Russia’s advance and the death of people, and you remove from the document everything that could motivate it to sign the agreement. And then you instead invite the winning side to admit that it is the loser and to concede everything everywhere. Do you have any idea that this won't work?
And most importantly, I can’t even ask these questions out loud. Not to politicians personally, not on Facebook, not even just in a conversation with friends - I will be eaten alive by all these standard humanists with memorized theses from European newspapers. Damn, I moved to freedom of speech, democracy and a humanistic society. Everyone went fucking crazy.