Since February 24, 2022, Meduza has been broadcasting live about the Russian-Ukrainian war. We publish your messages every day because we are certain that we need to keep talking about war. On February 28, the United States and Israel went to war with Iran. Do you think this will affect the world’s position on the Russian-Ukrainian war? Will she “fade into the background” as some believe? Will it become more difficult for Ukraine? Is it possible to compare the attack on Iran with the Russian attack on Ukraine? The feedback form is at the end of this article. You can read the previous day’s review here.
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Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky said that the next round of peace negotiations between Russia, Ukraine and the United States has been postponed due to “the situation around Iran.”
As follows from his statement, American negotiators made it clear that the priority for the United States now is the war in the Middle East. He stressed that Ukraine is ready to hold a meeting “at any moment” and in any form that would help end the war.
Zelensky stressed that Ukraine and the United States will remain in contact “almost 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.”
The last round of negotiations between Russia, Ukraine and the United States was held in Geneva on February 17-18. As a result, no breakthroughs were publicly announced, but unofficially the media wrote that the negotiating groups managed to agree on almost all controversial issues within their powers, so their work was basically completed, and further decisions on ending the war should be made by political leaders.
The next meeting of the negotiating teams was supposed to be decisive – either it would open the way for organizing a summit with the participation of Vladimir Zelensky, Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump, after which an agreement and a ceasefire could be announced, or it would finally appear that any agreement is fundamentally unachievable at the present time.
The head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, Kirill Budanov, who participated in the negotiations, confirmed ten days after the meeting in Geneva that the negotiators had found options for settlement on the most controversial points – guarantees of Ukraine’s security and the status of Donbass. Meanwhile, Budanov said that Moscow still does not agree to a meeting between Zelensky and Putin.
US Special Presidential Envoy Stephen Witkoff March 6 – After the start of the war in the Middle East – Express He is optimistic about further negotiations, stressing that Trump continues to personally supervise the process.
Russia
Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Moscow is ready to resume full energy supplies to European countries against the backdrop of expected fuel shortages due to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
As Putin noted, Russia has never refused to export energy resources to the European Union, and is now waiting for “some signals” from European countries about the desire to resume “long-term and sustainable joint action, devoid of political considerations.”
European Union officials have not yet commented on Putin’s statement. At the same time, in Germany, due to the expected sharp rise in gas prices, for the first time since the beginning of the Great War He started Non-public talks about potential “rehabilitation” of Russian supplies.
In 2021, the EU was the largest buyer of Russian gas – with supplies from the Russian Federation to the EU providing 45% of imports. After the start of the Great War, the countries of the Community began to gradually abandon the purchase of gas from the Russian Federation via pipelines, replacing it with liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the United States and Qatar (it was supplies from Qatar that were primarily threatened by the new war in the Middle East). At the same time, the purchase of liquefied gas from Russia to Europe also continues, but its share by 2025 He falls Up to about 15% off all supplies.
A few months ago, the European Union, at the supranational level, adopted a strategy of completely abandoning all types of Russian gas: this will finally be done by the end of 2027. Hungary, which now remains the largest buyer of Russian energy resources in the EU (in addition to gas, Budapest also buys oil via pipelines from Russia), has promised to challenge this ban in court.
As part of Russia’s gas abandonment programme, at the end of April, EU countries will be banned from entering into new short-term contracts to purchase liquefied natural gas. Vladimir Putin said on March 4 that Russia could unilaterally halt supplies even before that time. The Russian president said: “If we are going to close our doors in a month or two, anyway, wouldn’t it be better to stop now and go there, to those countries that are considered reliable partners? And get a foothold there.”
War in pictures. Surrender of Russian soldiers in the Donetsk region
War through the eyes of Medusa readers
Yevgeny (Kharkov). Lisa died. Lisa was thirteen years old. A missile hit her home in Kharkov. They died with their mother. Our children studied together. We left, they didn’t. I feel so sorry for Lisa, she’s just starting to live…
I believe that we ourselves are responsible for this war. I myself lost everything because of the war. I only blame myself for this. I wanted to go back to retrieve what was left. Even though my family will never come back. Those who cannot protect themselves die. The most isolated, who do not have the opportunity or mental strength to leave.
It seems to me that we can stop this if a hundred people come out, even if they are women. Others will pick up. We must rely only on ourselves. No one will help us. Here we have a better chance than hope that the dissatisfied will gather in Russia. After all, only heads of state are fighting; They don’t care about ordinary people. Unfortunately, we ourselves allow this to happen.
They say to me: “Do you want Ukraine to be under the control of Russia?” No – I want more Liz alive…