How Do Russian Citizens Feel About the War in Ukraine?

In his mobilisation speech on September 21st, Mr Putin used choice rhetoric of the party of total war to persuade Russian citizens of the enemy’s proximity and the need to defend the motherland.  https://euronewstop.co.uk/why-did-ukraine-not-take-the-knee.html  declared that this rhetoric would undermine the fragile support of the majority for the war. Mr Putin has a long record of masterfully manipulating public sentiment.

Earlier today, a Russian official said air defences had thwarted a drone attack on the Slavneft-YANOS oil refinery in the city of Yaroslavl. I’m against the war, and most of my friends and people I know feel the same way. These are mostly people around my age with the same level of education. However, when it comes to family, I, unfortunately, do have a conflict with my parents. 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.

... to prevent Ukraine from joining NATO

The margin of sampling error is plus or minus 3.1 percentage points for Russia and plus or minus 3 points for Ukraine for nation-wide data. The differing views of the USSR stem from different relationships with it, Snyder said. There’s a generational divide on the question in Ukraine, where 41% of people aged 55 and over – old enough to remember the Soviet Union – see it as having been a positive thing. Only a quarter (23%) of 18 to 34-year-olds in Ukraine – people born after the collapse of the USSR, or very young children when it dissolved in 1991 – see it as having been positive. “The problem with the Putin essay is that it is so thoroughly wrong on everything that it is hard to know where to begin,” he told CNN in an email, citing an example of the use of the term “Ukraine” as far back as 1648. The poll was completed before Putin’s announcement that Russia would send what he called “peacekeepers” into the regions.

According to the Athena Project, a collective of sociologists and I.T. Twenty-one per cent  of TV viewers didn’t know the goal of the operation. One is peddled by the best-known talk-show hosts who tell viewers that the “special operation” is part of Russia’s total and existential war with the West—which is, of course, hell-bent on obliterating Russia. This apocalyptic narrative sets up Ukraine as the site of this great battle.

UN to grill Russia on child deportations

But in an interview with Channel 4 News, Mr Zelensky said he was open to changing the law to allow for a wartime election. The votes are banned  under wartime legislation and Mr Zelensky said in November that he was opposed to holding one because “now is the time of defence”. It also wants to know what Moscow has done to protect “the right of such children to preserve their identity, including nationality, name and family relations”. Ukraine cannot expect peace with Russia if it is not willing to give up Crimea, Donetsk and Luhansk, Robert Fico has said ahead of a meeting with prime minister Denys Shmyhal on Wednesday.

• The early polls can be treated, like surveys elsewhere, as genuine signals of Russian public opinion.
• And other specialised apps, like Matlab (a programming and computing platform) and Coursera (an online course platform).
• There are likely many others who hate Russia, but it must be remembered that it’s necessary to separate the Russian government, a mad machine of repression and destruction, and the people of Russia, who for the most part are not guilty.
• It's quick to set up, and you can be confident that you're making a significant impact every month by supporting open, independent journalism.
• The stock market remains closed amid fears of a massive share sell-off.

Sixteen months after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the majority of respondents still support the war, and only 20% say they are against. They are still trying to track Russian public opinion on key topics, including the war in Ukraine, providing a rare window into how the Russian public views the war’s dramatic turns over the last 18 months. Russian President Vladimir Putin used the national Russian holiday commemorating Nazi Germany’s defeat at the end of World War II to demonize the West, suggesting it is responsible for Russia’s war in Ukraine. In his annual “Victory Day” speech on May 9, Putin said the ongoing invasion and occupation of Ukraine was necessary because the West was “preparing for the invasion of our land, including Crimea,” according to CNBC.

For Ukrainians, the looming first anniversary of Russia’s invasion of their country is a historic milestone within an ongoing tragedy of unprovoked bloodshed, one which seems to be escalating again. But the war’s relentless destruction also poses a more existential question, one which fuels an urgent need to resist and prevail. For centuries, Ukrainians have struggled against Russian cultural dominance. A short respite came with the country’s independence, but then, in 2014, Vladimir Putin’s aggressions began in Crimea, and carried on afterward in the Donbas. The struggle for identity is further complicated by the fact that many Ukrainians grew up in Russian-speaking households.

The protesters trickle along smaller streets, following location updates from dedicated Telegram channels. The night ends with a 39-year-old man driving a car into the police barriers at Pushkin Square with signs “This is war! 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.

• People have young children to look after, cancer and other illnesses to manage, aging parents to care for.
• Although Ukraine is a much smaller country, it is strong patriotically.
• Of course, that may be a strange example, but I just mean those of us who are against war still suffer from it.
• [Russian President Vladimir] Putin is just another man who has been in power too long.
• Ilya (name changed), who is in his early 30s, has just finished paying off his mortgage in Moscow.

I really cannot understand why Russians don’t have the right to eat in McDonald’s. Of course, that may be a strange example, but I just mean those of us who are against war still suffer from it. Their town has been directly affected, so we are worried about them. Right now, they are relatively safe, but it’s a constant worry for my family. Due to Russian cards getting blocked and Russia being disconnected from SWIFT (the international payment system), my family had to send me some money in advance, just in case, and I had to withdraw it really quickly before I lost access to it. It’s hard to differentiate global problems from everyday ones, as you can see.

• But it boosts the strength of the professional armed forces, which is often relatively small.
• Russia-based research outfits such as the Levada Center have been able to maintain some independence, but face higher rates of non-response.
• Next, two separatist regions in Donbas, Donetsk and Luhansk, declared their independence from Kyiv.
• This blatant attempt to silence our voice is a direct assault on the integrity of journalism and the values we hold dear.
• In its latest defence intelligence briefing, the MoD said Ukraine exported more grain in December 2023 than in any other month since Russia’s invasion.

A couple walk in front of the Kremlin's Spasskaya Tower and St Basil's cathedral in downtown Moscow. While 80% of poll respondents say they support Russia's military, some have mixed feelings. One pattern identified by pollsters is that most Russians say they would support peace talks to end the fighting. But what kind of guarantees they would give independent Ukraine is not yet clear. That the Kremlin was right to block the majority of independent media sites they used to read. Many who study and report on Russia, me included, believe a small percentage of people actively support the war, and a small percentage actively oppose it.

• Was hatred a natural and ultimately inevitable response to the atrocities Ukrainians were being subjected to?
• She supports our president, despite the fact that her whole family is still over there.
• I got a government email saying that we had until March 14 to download all files from Instagram.
• In fact, two out of three (65%) expect a peaceful end to the tensions between Russia and Ukraine.

We have VK (a Russian substitute for Facebook), but it’s not the same. My sister was struggling to get baby products for my nephew because the prices skyrocketed. One of my brothers-in-law and my father will potentially lose their jobs because their businesses worked very closely with European businesses, and all of those lines of communication are closed off now. I was planning to go see my family right about this time, but it doesn’t seem possible any more.