BBC explainer: What do Ukrainians really think of the Russians?

“Not just us but all of Europe is living on this credit.”  https://euronewstop.co.uk/why-is-russia-invading-ukraine-newsround.html  added, “I want to mark my position as someone lacking objectivity. Russian air defences have prevented a drone attack on an oil refinery in the city of Yaroslavl, northeast of Moscow, the regional governor has said. Opposition  leader Alexei Navalny, who has been serving prison time since 2021 after leading street protests and starting a nationwide opposition movement, was recently moved to a penal colony in Russia's far north. The Russian president has intensified a crackdown on opposition since the start of his invasion of Ukraine, and this has ramped up further as the elections have approached.

This man has a certain political style, to which most of the Russian population is already accustomed. He is not a bright leader, and not the tyrant that the opposition paints him as,  but he is definitely not the best thing that could happen to Russia. It seemed to me that all this was not real and could not last long.

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Online, most independent news websites are blocked or restricted, and so are Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. The fact that the majority of Russians tune in to TV news means they are inclined to at least hear the Kremlin's message - and possibly believe it. But many in Russia would be taken by surprise if war was to start soon. In Russia, state-run newspapers and media outlets blame the West for aggression, mirroring the Kremlin's language. OK, I confess I didn't know who the woman was, but her thoughts didn't exactly seem preoccupied by a possible invasion on her country. Life has not been much fun for performers during the various phases of Covid lockdown, with actors, dancers and even stand-up comedians facing closed down venues.

I asked him how he felt about the notion of justifiable hatred in the context of Ukraine. It’s 9 pm in Moscow and the police have already broken up the bulk of the protests. Since anyone with anti-war signs is arrested immediately, protesters casually stroll along until a large enough crowd gathers to shout their opposition to what's going on in Ukraine. Standing at one queue in Moscow, Evgeny (name changed), 45, said he wanted to withdraw money to pay off his mortgage. “Since we lived in Russia, the war affected us quite a lot. My mother and I were very afraid for our lives, so the decision was made to leave.

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It could be their Soviet past, or the government propaganda that has been poured out for so many years, or just that there is too much fear and anxiety to actually allow the thought that the world is different from what they expect. Being far away from them helps because we try to prioritise keeping our relationship intact and caring for each other more than anything. Sometimes I can’t help but try to convince them, which obviously doesn’t work. For the record, they don’t support the war in general, they do want it to stop; however, they can justify it in their heads somehow. Now, I’m very encouraged by the fact that the world understands that the Russian people did not choose this war, that instead it was started by a president who lives in some absurd reality of his own.

• MOSCOW — Waiting for her friends on Moscow’s primly landscaped Boulevard Ring earlier this week, Svetlana Kozakova admitted that she’d had a sleepless night.
• Throughout the war, researchers have been trying to understand what factors would reduce public support in Russia.
• Prime Minister Viktor Orban has been highly critical of the EU's financial and military aid for Ukraine and has maintained close ties with Russia.
• Online, most independent news websites are blocked or restricted, and so are Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
• By siding with the more militant part of the pro-war camp, which has long demanded mobilisation, Mr Putin may force doubters to pick a side and thus polarise society.

Images on social media have shown long queues forming at ATMs and money exchanges around the country in recent days, with people worried their bank cards may stop working or that limits will be placed on the amount of cash they can withdraw. Not surprisingly, the major shift in opinion took place after 2014. A major gulf in attitudes rose regarding Crimea, whose annexation was supported by 87 percent of Russians and opposed by 69 percent of Ukrainians. In Russia, both pro-Putin supporters and anti-Putin oppositionists like Alexei Navalny and Mikhail Khodorkovsky backed the annexation of Crimea. Seventy-nine percent of Russians linked that action to the revival of Russia as a great power and a return to Russia’s rightful dominance of the former Soviet Union.

But as time passed, I got used to it, no matter how terrible it was. People get used even to war, especially if they live far from the battleground. At the same time, there have been cases of pro-war pupils recording their teachers making dovish statements in class, and reporting them to the authorities.