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War
One thousand four hundred and sixty-six days. The Kremlin threatens to withdraw from peace talks
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
Russian officials believe it is pointless to continue the US-led peace talks with Ukraine unless Kiev agrees to territorial concessions, Bloomberg reports , citing sources familiar with the progress of the negotiation process.
The next round of negotiations, scheduled for March 4-5, will be decisive - and Moscow is likely to withdraw from the negotiations if Vladimir Zelensky does not make concessions, two sources close to the Kremlin told the agency.
According to one of them, Russia is ready to sign a draft memorandum of peace agreement if Ukraine agrees to withdraw troops from the Donetsk region. Following this, a presidential summit will be organized with the participation of Vladimir Putin, Vladimir Zelensky and Donald Trump to confirm and sign the agreement, followed by a mutual withdrawal of troops, the source added.
Bloomberg's source claims that as part of the agreement, Russia is ready to withdraw troops from the Sumy, Kharkov and Dnepropetrovsk regions, and will also not demand from Kyiv the parts of the Kherson and Zaporozhye regions that are not under its control.
In addition, Moscow will agree to monitor the US-led truce, although it will not allow the presence of foreign troops in Ukraine, and will also refuse the demand to limit the size of the Ukrainian army, the source said. The future of the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant, which is under Russian control, is still under discussion.
Vladimir Zelensky has previously repeatedly rejected the Kremlin’s demand for the withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from areas of Donbass that Russia has failed to conquer. The President of Ukraine allowed a ceasefire along the current front line and declared Kyiv's intention to seek the return of its territories through diplomatic means, subject to guarantees of the security of the United States and Europe from future Russian attacks.
The United States proposed creating a free economic zone in Donbass, and a demilitarized one at that. Russia allowed this possibility, provided that the Russian Guard was located there.
The Russia-backed deal is reminiscent of proposals first floated by U.S. presidential envoy Steve Witkoff to the Kremlin shortly before Putin and Trump's August summit in Alaska, four Bloomberg sources familiar with the matter said in Moscow. According to interlocutors, then Witkoff told Putin that the United States would seek Kyiv to renounce the Donetsk and Lugansk regions if Moscow agreed to freeze the conflict along the current front line and renounce claims to those areas of the Kherson and Zaporozhye regions that it did not occupy.
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.
Natalya (Novosibirsk) . I can’t get over the news about a college from my city, where the director forces students to sign a contract and go to war. My eldest son studied at this college, I even talked with this Kirsanova at the open day. I didn’t notice anything cannibalistic about her then; she was an ordinary woman, tortured by government work.
I involuntarily remember my student years, they fell during the first Chechen war. So we didn’t expel a single guy from the institute if he didn’t want it himself. Even the completely hopeless were depicted as being in troikas, just so they wouldn’t be sent to the army. It’s scary that those who once protected us have turned into scoundrels and are ready to send us to slaughter just to please higher authorities.