This winter has been exceptionally brutal in Ukraine. Already the coldest in more than a decade, it’s been made worse by Russian attacks on energy infrastructure that have left millions with no heating and intermittent power. As Russia’s war approaches its fourth anniversary, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy is under intense pressure from Donald Trump to hold elections and accept a peace deal within months. But inside Ukraine and among its allies, there remains deep skepticism that Vladimir Putin is truly interested in a durable peace. Celebrated writer Andrey Kurkov has lived the reality of the wartime winter in his home city of Kyiv. Best known for his 1996 novel “Death and the Penguin,” set in post-Soviet Ukraine, Kurkov has also written extensively about the current war, publishing three volumes of diaries alongside his fiction. While he’s been determined to remain in Ukraine throughout the conflict, he says the present conditions have been too much to bear. In this conversation with Mishal Husain, he talks about his hopes for peace and how he plans to return to Kyiv in the spring. 00:00 Introducing Andrey Kurkov: “Ukraine’s greatest living writer” 02:28 Situation in Kyiv: “Winter allied with Russia” 04:10 Four years since full-scale invasion 06:33 Ukraine is “fragmented” 08:18 “Writing nonfiction is a duty” 10:43 “Nobody’s winning” 13:00 Kurkov’s relationship with Russia 16:20 How the war changed Kurkov and his country 18:40 Kurkov’s message to the Munich Security Conference 20:20 Capitulation “camouflaged” as a peace deal 22:30 Support for Zelenskiy in Ukraine 24:23 Corruption scandals: “I’m very angry” 27:30 “I hope the war will be over this year” 30:30 Observing the war as a diarist 31:54 Humor as a “psychological defense” 33:57 “We are part of Europe” Read this interview with Mishal’s notes on Bloomberg Weekend: www.bloomberg.com/latest/weekend-interview Contact The Mishal Husain Show mishalshow@bloomberg.net Visit https://www.bloomberg.com/mishal Subscribe to Bloomberg Podcasts: https://bit.ly/BloombergPodcasts Visit us: https://www.bloomberg.com/podcasts For coverage on news, markets and more: http://www.bloomberg.com/video Watch Bloomberg Vodcasts: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLe4PRejZgr0MS0Tqk_zQl1LVVTdWuH2Di