War

One thousand four hundred and forty-third day. The second round of negotiations took place in Abu Dhabi. TASS claims that Moscow demands recognition of Donbass as Russian by all countries of the world

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

The second round of trilateral negotiations between the United States, Russia and Ukraine to end the war ended in Abu Dhabi. The head of the office of the President of Ukraine, Kirill Budanov, in comments to the press, said that the negotiations were “constructive” and thanked the United States and the United Arab Emirates for their mediation. Neither Budanov nor other participants in the meeting gave detailed comments.

US Special Representative Steve Witkoff said that the parties agreed on an exchange of prisoners - 157 for 157 people. This is the first exchange in five months. Witkoff also said “additional progress” is expected in the coming weeks. Budanov later clarified that among the exchanged Ukrainians there were 15 people who were sentenced to life in prison in Russia, as well as some defenders of Mariupol.

Very little is known about the specific content of the negotiations. “In general terms, these are economic aspects, a territorial issue, a ceasefire mechanism,” an unnamed source told the Russian state agency TASS this morning.

The agency, citing a “Western source in Abu Dhabi,” also wrote that Moscow, within the framework of a “grand agreement,” wants the world community to officially recognize the sovereignty of the Russian Federation over Donbass. “For the Russian side, this aspect of the recognition of Donbass by all countries is seen as very important,” the agency’s interlocutor said.

Citing the same “Western source,” TASS wrote that Ukraine’s security guarantees may not be based on the deployment of peacekeepers on its territory, but on the “quick response of multinational forces,” because, according to him, the option with peacekeepers “does not suit everyone.”

Previously, Moscow’s demands to recognize the sovereignty of the Russian Federation over Donbass were not reported at the level of the international community. Donald Trump's original plan spoke of possible recognition of territorial changes by the United States - but not by Ukraine and European countries.

President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky said that “even if someone recognizes our territories as Russian, it will not give anything,” noting that Ukraine “has a president who signs documents.” “Therefore, our territories are ours, despite the fact that their temporary status is temporarily occupied,” he said .

Russia

Latvian Prime Minister Evika Silina and Estonian President Alar Karis called on the European Union to appoint a special envoy to resume contacts with the Kremlin.

Silinya noted that since Ukraine is negotiating with Russia, there is no point in the European Union abandoning them. At the same time, she expressed the opinion that the EU should still “isolate Russia and apply sanctions to it.” Karis, in turn, complained that the EU was “a little late” in starting the search for diplomatic solutions.

The European Union almost completely stopped diplomatic communication with Russia after the start of the big war. The Baltic countries took the toughest position.

“These comments reflect a rapid shift in Europe's strategic thinking towards Russia after it was sidelined from direct dialogue in peace talks led by the United States,” notes Euronews, in an interview with Silina and Karis making their proposals.

Recently, France has been most active in attempts to resume contacts with Moscow. President Emmanuel Macron said back in December that Europe would have to talk to Vladimir Putin if it did not want to be excluded from decisions on Ukraine.

Yesterday, the French publication L'Express and the Reuters agency, citing sources, wrote that on February 3, Macron's diplomatic adviser Emmanuel Bonn came to Moscow and met with Russian Presidential Assistant Yuri Ushakov. Sources from Bloomberg clarified that Bonn's goal during the trip was to convince Moscow that Europeans should participate in any decisions regarding European security.

Officially in Paris, they neither confirmed nor denied media reports about the visit. Press Secretary of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov said that “out of solidarity” with France he would also not confirm or deny the fact of Bonn’s trip.

War in photographs. Front line in Donbass

War through the eyes of Meduza readers

Anya (Kiev) . I am an old woman from Kiev (the same age as the Russian dictator). I haven’t left anywhere since the first days of the war. I remember how in February 2022, an excavator was digging trenches along the street, and my neighbors with their friends and relatives immediately put pallets, sandbags, and Molotov cocktails in them - they were preparing to meet the “big brother” who was rushing to the outskirts. I came home and put the tourist hatchet at the entrance. Naive. Men stood in line for hours at the stadium, where weapons were distributed.

Everything is different now. The volunteers were killed. There are no people willing to fight. Corruption is unlimited, brazen, open, unpunished. Lies, lack of laws, honor, justice, moral principles. Ashamed. It’s a shame to see well-fed, sleek young men with sculpted biceps getting out of brand new beautiful cars with military license plates at large holiday markets. Money and nepotism solve all problems. During the entire war, I saw soldiers from the front line two or three times - they had tired, brownish-dirty faces, stale, wrinkled uniforms, broken boots. And the eyes... The look cannot be described.

Those who rejoice in the misfortunes of others can be content. When it was cold, it was six degrees in my apartment in a panel high-rise building (with and without electric stove). The cold penetrated to the bones, to the brain, to despair. But nothing. Yes, it’s sad that the last chord of life occurs during such a difficult period. I will never see my relatives, I will never enjoy a carefree old age... I want to die - quietly, calmly, without suffering and, if possible, carefully. I don't know how to do this.

It’s a pity that Ukraine haters don’t read Meduza. For them I would like to add that I am from a Ukrainian family. My mother is a teacher of Russian language and literature. My father is a combat officer, a tank driver, and a participant in the Battles of Stalingrad and Kursk-Oryol. He started the war when he was twenty. All my life I remembered my dead “children” from different Russian and Ukrainian cities. I studied at the philology department, I know and love Russian literature well. Favorite writer: Bunin. Re-read his “Cursed Days.” Humanity doesn't change.

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