After fourteen days of major military attacks, diplomatic threats and brandishing of nuclear deterrence, this Wednesday gives rise to an apparent, and very noticeable, lull in Russian discourse.
The Ukrainian government announced in the morning that it had reached an agreement with the Russian invader to respect ceasefires around a number of humanitarian corridors and finally allow the evacuation of civilians trapped in several cities of the country.
Rare since the start of the war in Ukraine almost two weeks ago, Russia itself underlines, this Wednesday, "progress" in the negotiations, through the voice of its spokesperson for diplomacy.
"Alongside the special military operation (Editor's note, the Russian authorities are not talking about an invasion or a war in Ukraine), negotiations are also underway with the Ukrainian side in order to put an end to the bloodshed as soon as possible. senseless and to the resistance of the Ukrainian armed forces," said Maria Zakharova, insidiously blaming the "bloodshed" on "the resistance" of Ukraine.
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From the speech of Maria Zakharova this Wednesday denotes a less belligerent tone than that used by Moscow since the start of its offensive.
"It would be better if we got some progress through peaceful negotiations," she said.
"It will be better if we achieve results through peaceful negotiations."
Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova says 'we are hoping for more significant steps forward' at the next round of talks.
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Moscow's objectives "do not include the occupation of Ukraine, the destruction of its state, or the overthrow of the current government", the Russian representative also declared, reiterating that Vladimir Putin's army does not aim the civilian population.
Still, the media and NGOs present on the spot continue to relay attacks on civilians by the Russian army.
A reprieve for civilians
This Wednesday morning, the Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister nevertheless also confirmed that an agreement had been reached with the Russians on the establishment between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. - local time (8 a.m. and 8 p.m. Paris) of six humanitarian corridors around areas hard hit by fighting in recent days, forcing civilians to sometimes stay hidden in cellars for days.
In particular, corridors have been defined to evacuate civilians from Energodar to Zaporijia (south), from Izium to Lozova (east) and from Sumy to Poltava (north-east).
Several corridors are also planned to evacuate civilians to Kiev from several towns west of the capital, including Boutcha, Irpin and Gostomel.
A corridor is also planned in Mariupol, the port city in southeastern Ukraine that 300,000 people are seeking to flee, but according to Ukrainian authorities the Russians are still preventing evacuation through the agreed corridor.
Persistent threats from the Kremlin
Still, the apparent calm noticeable on Wednesday says nothing about Moscow's medium and long-term intentions.
This Wednesday morning, alongside Maria Zakharova's speech, the Kremlin denounced the "economic war" declared by the United States against Russia, following Washington's announcement of an embargo on American imports of oil and gas , among other penalties.
"The United States has declared economic war on Russia and they are waging this war," Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
The latter also brandished a barely concealed threat to Ukraine's allies, and in particular to Washington and Warsaw, by denouncing Poland's proposal to transfer MiG-29 fighter jets to the Americans and then send them to Kiev.
"It's a very undesirable and potentially dangerous scenario," he said.
On the ground of the war itself, the bombardments continue which contrast considerably with this supposed diplomatic upturn.
On Tuesday, at least 10 people died hit by Russian fire in Severodonetsk, eastern Ukraine.
The Russian army also shelled the small town of Malyn, west of Kiev, on Tuesday evening, where five people, including two babies, died.
Since the start of the invasion, Russia has brought tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine, provoked the exodus of millions of refugees and caused hundreds of deaths, including many civilians.