War

One thousand four hundred and sixty seventh day. The head of Zelensky's office claims that Russia agreed to post-war security guarantees for Ukraine

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. You can read the previous day's review here .

World

Belgium has seized an oil tanker that is part of Russia's “shadow fleet” and helps the Russian authorities maintain uninterrupted exports of crude oil, Belgian Defense Minister Theo Franken said. “Our armed forces, with the support of the French Ministry of Defense, boarded an oil tanker,” he wrote on social media X early on Sunday, March 1.

French President Emmanuel Macron confirmed that French naval forces participated in the operation. He called it a “serious blow” to the “shadow fleet” of the Russian Federation.

The operation to hijack the ship was called "Blue Intruder"; After the detention, the tanker was sent to the port of Zeebrugge in the city of Bruges on the North Sea coast.

Franken told Reuters that the detained ship is called the Etera and is under EU sanctions. The Belgian publication RTBF clarifies that the tanker is also on the sanctions lists of the USA, Canada, Switzerland, Great Britain and Ukraine. Belgian authorities suggest that the ship entered the country's territorial waters under a " false flag and with false documents."

In addition, in 2025, US authorities stated that the Etera tanker was connected to a “vast shipping empire controlled by Mohammed Hossein Shamkhani.” According to American sources, Hossein Shamkhani is the son of Ali Shamkhani, an admiral and secretary of the Iranian Defense Council, who died on the first day of the great war in the Middle East on February 28.

“Without his shadow fleet, Putin will not be able to wage war against innocent Ukrainians. That's why we are withdrawing these ships. One after another. Until its war of aggression stops,” Franken added, stressing that Belgium takes its responsibility seriously.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sibiga thanked the Belgian government for its “determination and professionalism” and called on other allies to follow its example in the fight against the Russian “shadow fleet”.

The Russian Embassy in Brussels claims that Belgium did not notify the Russian Federation about the reasons for the detention of the tanker and the composition of the crew. There are no other comments from the Russian side yet.

In the summer of 2025, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that attempts to inflict “some kind of damage or damage to the Russian Federation, including on the so-called shadow fleet, will lead to general problems.” And the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Sergei Lavrov, said in February 2026 that the “shadow fleet” was invented by the West.

War in photographs

Ukraine

At talks in Geneva on February 26, Russia agreed to accept the US proposal for post-war security guarantees for Ukraine, Kirill Budanov, head of the office of Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, said during a television interview .

Ukraine is seeking security guarantees, according to which the United States and Kyiv's European allies will be obliged to come to the aid of the Armed Forces of Ukraine if Russia begins hostilities again after reaching a peace agreement.

“These are our guarantees, and they [Russia] will have to respect them. What comes, as they say, from the United States, here you can love them or not love them, but you cannot fail to respect them. And they said it straight out. Therefore, in matters of security guarantees, I also see some progress,” Budanov said.

In addition, according to the head of the office of the President of Ukraine, the negotiations managed to resolve the issue of control over the demilitarized zone. At the same time, Russia still does not agree to hold a meeting between Zelensky and Putin, which was previously proposed to be organized by US Presidential Special Envoy Steve Witkoff.

According to Budanov, Kyiv still has “several arguments” to put pressure on Moscow. “This will mean the further development of Ukraine, the end of the bloodshed, the future for our state,” he added.

Russia and Ukraine called the latest round of peace talks difficult, while the United States reported “significant progress.” According to Bloomberg sources on the Russian side, the Russian Federation may withdraw from the negotiations if Ukraine does not agree to withdraw its troops from the entire Donbass. Also, one of Bloomberg’s interlocutors said that Russia is ready to withdraw troops from the occupied parts of the Sumy, Kharkov and Dnepropetrovsk regions and “will not insist on demands for additional territories” in the Kherson and Zaporozhye regions. There is no confirmation of this information.

The next round of negotiations will take place in March in Abu Dhabi.

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.

Anonymous reader (Volga region). Until February 2026, war seemed like something far away. I remember how, after the capture of Mariupol, the federal channel showed footage of the ruins of the city. And I looked at it without any emotion. At all. Now I'm very ashamed of this. I remember how at the same time I read the news about the departure of my favorite performers and was sincerely perplexed: “Well, why these?”

I can’t say that I held any views, but I was still more inclined towards the Z-public. My views began to change around 2023. I became convinced that they were correct (in my opinion!) when I started watching the FBK YouTube channel after Alexei Navalny was sent to Kharp.

But I still didn’t feel the war as something real. The first alarm began to appear after UAV attacks . Real fear came after the announcement of a missile attack and news of downed missiles over the Volga regions. For the first time I felt what thousands of innocent people feel every day. I'm truly ashamed of this.

This reality is becoming more frightening every day. Even now, as I write this text, I feel a little fear. But I'm already tired of being afraid. Forgive me if my fear, the fear of a resident of an area remote from combat operations, offends you, a person who experiences every day what I felt for the first time in four years.

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