Translated material
War
1537th day. Ukraine and Russia accuse each other of ceasefire violations. Western media consider the shortened parade a sign of Putin's weakness
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 .
Truce
Ukraine and Russia accuse each other of violations on the second day of the truce
May 10 marked the second day of a three-day truce announced by US President Donald Trump. However, the previous evening the authorities of the Kharkov region reported the attack. The head of the regional military administration, Oleg Sinegubov, said that Russian troops carried out a drone strike on the Industrial district of the city, injuring five people. Doctors diagnosed at least three of them with an acute stress reaction. Later, he also reported a Russian drone strike on the Kievsky district of Kharkov, as a result of which the roof of a private residential building caught fire.
Attacks were also recorded in the Dnepropetrovsk region. According to the head of the military administration, Alexander Ganzhi, Russia attacked two areas with drones; in Sinelnikovsky, a three-year-old girl was injured and was taken to the hospital in a moderate condition.
The Air Force of the Ukrainian Armed Forces stated on the morning of May 10 that, starting from midnight, Russian troops attacked Ukraine with 27 drones of various types, including Shahed attack aircraft. The Ukrainian Armed Forces claim that all 27 drones were shot down and no hits were recorded (evening attacks on Kharkov and the Dnepropetrovsk region, apparently, are not taken into account in this count). The report of the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces at 16:00 on May 10 states that since the beginning of the day, Russian troops have attacked the positions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces 60 times.
Vladimir Zelensky did not comment on violations by Russia that day. On May 10, he published two posts, in one of which he congratulated Ukrainians on Mother’s Day, and in the other he talked about his conversation with the President of Finland Alexander Stubb.
The Russian Ministry of Defense, in turn, stated that all groups of Russian troops “continue to strictly observe the ceasefire and remain at previously occupied lines and positions.” The military department claims that the Ukrainian military, despite the truce, carried out attacks using drones and artillery on Russian positions, as well as on civilian targets in the Belgorod, Kursk, Kaluga, Rostov regions, Krasnodar Territory and Crimea. The Russian armed forces, as stated in a statement from the Ministry of Defense, “reacted in a mirror manner to violations of the truce.”
Russia
In the West, the shortened Victory Parade was considered a sign of Putin’s weakness, but Moscow has not yet retreated from its positions on Donbass
The 81st anniversary of Victory Day, which was celebrated in Russia on May 9 without military equipment at the main parade and without evening fireworks in Moscow, was described by many Western publications as a sign of “strategic exhaustion.” “The modest celebration of Victory Day on Red Square was a sign of the country’s growing strain on the country’s resources, isolation and uncertainty about the future,” says an article in the British The Telegraph. The newspaper notes that the absence of at least one modern tank on Red Square could “ultimately become one of the symbols of this war,” and that “for Ukraine and its allies, this gives some reason for optimism,” since the parades “can show the real state of affairs beyond the limits of propaganda.”
The New York Times concludes that the much smaller-than-usual 45-minute parade "shows Putin's growing vulnerability." The shortened parade, the newspaper writes, “reinforced the feeling that Moscow and other major cities can no longer be protected from the consequences of the war.” The Guardian also writes that the parade “exposed the weaknesses of the Russian president,” and the French Le Monde in its headline calls the parade “inexpressive.”
However, judging by the rhetoric of Putin’s assistant Yuri Ushakov, Russia still does not intend to retreat from its demands on Ukraine. The day after the parade, state agencies distributed quotes from his interview with Vesti correspondent Pavel Zarubin, in which Ushakov stated that the “conflict resolution” will not move forward without the withdrawal of the Armed Forces of Ukraine from the Donetsk region. “Until [Ukraine] takes this step, we can hold several more rounds, dozens of rounds [of negotiations], but we will be in the same place, you know?” he said (quoted by TASS). Ushakov added that in Ukraine “they know that this needs to be done,” and “they will do it sooner or later anyway.”
War in photographs. Exhibition of military equipment in Transcarpathia
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.
Carefully. There is one swear word in this letter.
Aliya (Moscow) . "Medusa", dear, where to go and with whom to share the pain because of this fucking war? This morning I burst into tears in the gym from hopelessness, fatigue, fear for the future, from pain for the innocent people in Ukraine. I can’t cope without alcohol in the evenings because it’s the only way I can extinguish the thoughts in my head. I look at my son, he is seven years old, and I pray to all the gods in whom I do not believe that he will never find justification for this war.
I'm afraid to go to a psychologist: what if he reports on me? I’ve been burying my thoughts inside myself for five years now, and I don’t know how much longer I’ll last.
Thanks to everyone who finds the strength to write warm letters to Meduza. They are like a psychotherapy session for me.