War

One thousand three hundred and ninety-seventh day. Russia said that changes to the peace plan from Ukraine and Europe are an obstacle to achieving peace

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. A review of the previous day can be read here .

Russia

Russia believes that the changes proposed by Ukraine and Europe to the peace plan developed by the United States hinder the achievement of peace. This was stated today by Assistant to the President of the Russian Federation Yuri Ushakov.

The official said this was “not a forecast, but a confidence.” According to him, the proposals of the Europeans and Ukrainians “definitely do not improve the document and do not improve the opportunity to achieve long-term peace.”

Ushakov did not specify what proposals he was talking about. The Kremlin representative only noted that Moscow expects that during discussions of the peace plan, “the Americans and everyone else comply with the agreements that were reached, in particular, in Anchorage.”

What exactly Ushakov meant when he spoke about the “agreements in Anchorage” is unclear. After the meeting between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, which took place there in August, no agreements were reported; those negotiations ended even earlier than planned due to a discrepancy in positions. Russian officials cited only the fact that Trump was ready “not only to listen, but also to hear” Russia’s position as a positive result.

Today, Ushakov also noted that so far “no one has spoken seriously” about the possibility of a trilateral meeting with the participation of the United States, Russia and Ukraine and that it is not even being worked on.

Ushakov’s statements were made against the backdrop of Russian-American negotiations in Miami. On the Russian side, the head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, Kirill Dmitriev, is participating; on the US side, special envoy Steve Witkoff and the president’s son-in-law, Jared Kushnir, are participating.

Negotiations began on December 20, and Dmitriev called the results of the first day “constructive.” They will continue throughout today. This is the first meeting between Russians and Americans since talks in Berlin earlier this week that included Witkoff, Kushnir, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and European leaders.

On Friday in Miami, negotiations with the Americans were conducted by a Ukrainian delegation led by Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council Rustem Umerov. The Russians and Ukrainians did not interact with each other and did not conduct joint negotiations with each other or with the United States.

War in photographs. Pokrovsk

Pokrovsk is an important logistics hub in the Donetsk region, where fighting has been going on for several months, one of the most intense on the front. The situation near Pokrovsk remains a crisis for the Ukrainian Armed Forces - the Russian military controls almost all areas of the city, although Ukrainian assault groups continue to penetrate there through the northern outskirts.

Read more about the situation in Pokrovsk in our latest military report with a map of military operations. The photographs below, taken by the Russian state agency Sputnik, show military personnel of the Russian Armed Forces and the areas of the city under their control.

War through the eyes of Meduza readers

Alexander (Tver region) . I’ll tell you for context: I happened to be on conscript duty in Crimea when this war was just beginning. Talk to the locals - there were those whose relatives or friends had already died, and brainwashed grannies almost kissed their feet, look at the half-dead wounded, run to the basement during the air raid at night. Overall, I’ll say that I got a trial version of these horrors - enough to feel and understand them, but not so much that you’d practically go off the rails for the rest of your life.

[Trump's] peace plan is sad in some ways, but predictable. For ordinary people, there definitely won’t be anything better - since this plan exists now, thousands of deaths before the next one. For the honor of states and the like - it’s harder to say, but also doubtful. And I would like to ask those who oppose such a “bad” plan from their sofas and armchairs: where were you when you had the chance to make it better? It is very easy to assent in the language of diplomacy, but only when the issue was discussed in the language of force, all these years few people dared to speak it. Yes, the plan is unfair - but faith in justice alone is not enough, and they helped defend it all this time very hesitantly. Here is a plan for such “zeal”.

Although I don’t believe in a sustainable world based on the results, I wouldn’t believe in it based on the results of almost any outcome. This Pandora's box, opened by the Russian government, cannot be slammed back now; it can only take it with it to the grave when it changes. We can only hope that this will happen before they decide on another disaster. Whether they sign a [peace treaty] depends on whether all parties involved can spin this as their [own] success. What else can we expect from politicians?

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