Translated material
War
One thousand four hundred and eleventh day. The new head of Zelensky's office in the United States is considered more convenient for peace negotiations, and in Ukraine - a potential successor to the president
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. The year 2025 ended amid unprecedented diplomatic activity and claims by the US and warring parties that this time they were truly close to achieving peace. Do you think these efforts will lead to real results? Do you hope for peace to arrive in the first months of 2026? The feedback form is at the end of this article. A review of the previous day can be read here .
World
The appointment of Kirill Budanov to the post of head of the office of the President of Ukraine was a good choice from the point of view of the US authorities,writes The Washington Post. Now the former head of Ukraine's military intelligence, who turned 40 on January 4, is respected among representatives of different factions in the Donald Trump administration. One of the former American officials specializing in Russian-Ukrainian issues told the publication about this on condition of anonymity.
Despite his reputation as an aggressive and warlike person, Budanov played an unnoticed but important role in peace negotiations in early 2025, the source told reporters. "When you really discuss how a war should end, he is probably one of the most realistic and clear-headed people," he said.
According to the source, this contrasted sharply with the behavior of the previous head of the office of the President of Ukraine, Andrei Yermak, who impressed his American colleagues as a self-centered person. “Instead of caring about the good for Ukraine, [Ermak] ended up caring about the good for himself and Zelensky,” he added.
In turn, a former high-ranking official from the team of the President of Ukraine believes that Budanov was much more important in his position as head of the Main Intelligence Directorate. However, this reshuffle shows that Zelensky is “looking for another strong man in the style of Yermak” for a role more consistent with that of a vice president than the head of an office.
At the same time, the Ukrainian interlocutor of The Washington Post said, Budanov differs from Ermak in several key parameters, including the fact that he “has a chance to become a successor.” According to the former Ukrainian official, Zelensky decided not to run for a new term, “calculated the risks and came to terms with it” and may even consider Budanov as “the first step towards the successor project with some personal guarantees.” Or maybe, on the contrary, use it as a chance to “destroy your most promising competitor.”
War in photographs. Kharkov
The death toll has risen to six people as a result of a Russian strike on a five-story residential building in Kharkov on January 2, city mayor Igor Terekhov said. Authorities initially said 30 were injured. The Russian Ministry of Defense denies that they carried out strikes within the city. The Russian military said the damaged house was a shopping center and the explosion was likely caused by the fire of Ukrainian Armed Forces ammunition stored there. In the pictures: rescue services continue to clear the rubble.
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.
Denis (Berlin) . I have been living in Germany for a long time. It’s difficult for me to speak for Russia, so I’ll speak for Germany. Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine shocked me. It took me many months and antidepressants to somehow recover from this. But now something else scares me - that our politicians are increasingly talking about a big war. According to our Minister of Defense, the Russians were supposed to come in 2029, then in 2028, and now we are talking about 2026. “The last peaceful summer,” as Pistorius says, has already happened—in 2025.
I get the feeling that the government is doing everything to make a big war really happen. Germany now more and more resembles Russia in the past: military service is made attractive to young people, Bundeswehr advertising at bus stops, the return of military conscription, and on television there is hysteria and endless talk about how we need to fight for our freedom and democracy.
It becomes increasingly difficult to talk to colleagues. I see that for many, the very idea of peace seems unacceptable: it is important to “be on the right side of history” and not give up. It is especially difficult to hear ridicule directed at schoolchildren who take to the streets to demonstrate against conscription into the army.
It’s hard to believe, but now all my hopes are connected with Trump, with the hope that he will push the world, putting pressure on both Putin and Ukraine, without listening to European politicians.
I realize that I am most likely in the minority with this opinion. I noticed long ago: if you put human life above any ideas, you almost always find yourself in the minority.