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War
One thousand four hundred and seventeenth day. Trump is preparing an $800 billion deal for post-war “prosperity” for Ukraine - and is increasingly tired of Putin
Since February 24, 2022, Meduza has been broadcasting live about the Russian-Ukrainian war. We publish your letters every day because we are sure that we need to continue talking about the war. Share with us your thoughts about the war. What feelings are you experiencing? How does war affect your life and your attitude towards the world? If you have a story related to the war, tell it . The feedback form is at the end of this article. A review of the previous day can be read here .
World
Vladimir Zelensky and Donald Trump intend to sign a “prosperity” agreement, which involves raising $800 billion to rebuild Ukraine over ten years, The Telegraph writes , citing unnamed Western officials. We are talking about loans, grants and investments from private companies.
It is expected that the presidents of Ukraine and the United States will finalize and conclude a deal at the World Economic Forum in Davos, which will be held from January 19 to 23. Zelensky initially planned to go to the White House next week to sign an economic prosperity plan with the United States, as well as an agreement on post-war security guarantees for Ukraine. But European allies suggested Davos as the best alternative for Zelensky’s meeting with Trump, the publication’s interlocutors said.
According to The Telegraph, the prosperity plan builds on a minerals agreement reached last spring that will give American investors preferential access to mining projects in Ukraine in the future. Kyiv hopes that an invitation to Washington to participate in the post-war reconstruction of Ukraine will encourage Trump to provide reliable security guarantees.
In an interview with Bloomberg, Vladimir Zelensky said that he is discussing a possible free trade agreement with the United States as part of a broad post-war package of measures to restore Ukraine. According to him, this agreement will provide for zero tariffs on trade with the United States for some industrial regions of Ukraine, which will give the country “very serious trump cards” compared to neighboring countries and potentially attract foreign investment. The Ukrainian leader believes that such an agreement will also serve as an additional guarantee of economic security.
Such a free economic zone could appear in certain territories of Donbass and become a compromise solution that would provide for the withdrawal of troops on both sides to a safe distance, the president said. But this option requires symmetrical steps on the part of Russia and requires broad discussion within Ukraine. An alternative scenario involves a cessation of hostilities without the withdrawal of troops and the subsequent resolution of controversial issues through diplomatic means.
Zelensky also said that he has conveyed comments to the American side on territorial issues and expects that Russia will give its response to the 20-point peace plan agreed upon by Kiev and Washington by the end of January.
At the same time, The Telegraph's White House sources say , Donald Trump is becoming increasingly disillusioned with Vladimir Putin, seeing in his actions more and more obstacles to achieving peace. The views of the US presidential administration increasingly coincide with the point of view in Europe, where they believe that Putin is simply playing for time. And Moscow’s strategy in negotiations “two steps forward, one step back” is becoming increasingly “tiring” for Trump, one of the publication’s interlocutors said.
The seizure of a Russian-flagged oil tanker and Trump's support for a bill imposing secondary sanctions on buyers of Russian oil signaled to Putin that he was running out of time to end the war. “Trump is using the carrot and stick method. And I think he’s run out of carrots,” said a source from the US President’s inner circle.
War in photographs. Blackouts in Dnieper and Kyiv
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.
Vika (Nizhny Novgorod) . I'm very tired. In the most difficult moments of my life, what helped me was that I tried to choose some random date and believe that until that moment everything would be fine. Now there is a feeling that the war will last forever.
In general, before, for me, time did not go in a circle, but in a spiral; although it was cyclical, it was at least moving somewhere. And now I feel like I’m going in circles and after November 30, November 31 came, and after December 31, November 62 came. Moreover, every day there will be the same emotional coloring, the same “patriotic” songs on TV and the same attempts to fall asleep while the brain is in the “Attention to UAV” state. It seems that no one around me experiences this. Everyone celebrates the New Year and doesn’t see a problem with the fact that the blue light turns on the battalion commander; no one thinks that military reports on New Year’s Eve are abnormal.