Notes

Russia-Ukraine: What do young Russians think about the war? Russia-Ukraine war
And if I am not imprisoned soon for speaking out against war, I want to try – together with like-minded people – to do everything I can to give our country hope for a peaceful future. 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.


Some of my friends are leaving the country right now, and I understand them. Positive Russian attitudes toward Ukraine once again dramatically collapsed during the Euromaidan, which was portrayed in massive state-sponsored information campaigns as a Western-backed coup bringing Russophobes and fascists to power. A just-released poll by Russia’s Levada Center shows that Russians think the most hostile countries are the United States, followed by Ukraine, Germany, Latvia, and Lithuania. Two-thirds of Ukrainians, but only a quarter of Russians, understand the conflict as a Russian-Ukrainian war. Many shout about it openly, but it doesn’t end in anything good.

BBC News Services
In Belgorod, close to the Ukrainian border and just 80km (50 miles) from the now war-torn city of Kharkiv, local people are now used to convoys of military trucks roaring towards the front line. Cuts have already seen the size of the British Army fall from more than 100,000 in 2010 to around 73,000 now. Gen Sanders said that within the next three years the British Army needed to be 120,000 strong with the addition of reserves. But he said even that is not enough - so the Army should be designed to expand rapidly "to enable the first echelon, resource the second echelon, and train and equip the citizen army that must follow". The overall effect means Finland can muster one of Europe's largest armies. The size of its active armed forces is only 19,000 personnel, but it can call on another 238,000 reserves.


Most Russians also do not expect a Ukrainian attack on their country -- only 31% of Russians said that was likely. In fact, two out of three (65%) expect a peaceful end to the tensions between Russia and Ukraine. Many in Russia believe their country would be fundamentally threatened by further expansion of NATO to Ukraine, according to veteran Russian and Soviet-era TV host and journalist Vladimir Pozner. One out of every two Russians (50%) says it would be right, while only a quarter (25%) say it would be wrong. The other quarter (25%) are unsure, according to the survey.

Anna*, 22, Moscow – ‘None of us wanted this war’
You could argue Sonya is typical of the pro-European young professional class emerging in eastern Ukraine. Sonya goes on to say she hopes the pro-Russian separatists nearby would not get what they wanted, and that they would soon tire of the fight and, as she put it "go back home." So there's really no surprise that when trying to escape the economic hardships in Ukraine in the 90's and ever since, many western Ukrainians went to Europe to find jobs.

Probably yes, if more people had stood up for their freedom and challenged state TV propaganda about trumped up threats from the West and Ukraine. This could see states like Poland and the Baltics decide to aid Ukraine on their own, which "might leave NATO's eastern front vulnerable and cause a crisis within the EU and European NATO". "We are worried about what's happening because it is so close to us. But also we are not completely sure what happened, she adds. "We don't really believe the news we see on TV." Compared with this time last year, Vladimir Putin is stronger, politically more than militarily.
Russian state television—instrumental in shaping public opinion—serves all these audiences. According to https://euronewstop.co.uk/what-anti-ship-missiles-is-uk-sending-to-ukraine.html , conducted by pollsters such as the Levada Centre which has offices in Moscow, 70-75% of respondents in Russia support the war with Ukraine. (These surveys were conducted before Mr Putin announced his mobilisation drive.) But these shocking figures are deceptive.

... if Russia feels threatened by foreign activity in former Soviet countries
“They are also of the opinion that, while Ukraine could not stand up to an all-out Russian invasion, Russia would lose much more from that than any military victory would win,” he said. “The reason why 75% of Russians think Russia will not invade Ukraine is simply because of what they read in their newspapers and see on their TV. There is basically no hysteria, no beating of the war drum, a consistent message that we do not want a war and will not start one,” Pozner said. Across the country and across all ages, a majority of Ukrainians say they are not “one people” with Russians and that the two countries should not be one.


My feelings are mixed regarding the decision of our president. I got a government email saying that we had until March 14 to download all files from Instagram. We have VK (a Russian substitute for Facebook), but it’s not the same. It was rather cheap, but now I want to buy AirPods and they’re really expensive. They were 7,000 roubles and now cost more than 14,000 roubles. Their town has been directly affected, so we are worried about them.


The economy hasn’t been stable for a long time and the sanctions haven’t gone away. Travel is hard – you can’t go anywhere with a Russian passport. Many Western brands leaving Russia have paved the way for young entrepreneurs and new, high-quality Russian brands are thriving. Russian forces may try to push again along the entire front, at least to secure all of the Donbas region. Ukraine will probably try to exploit the success it has had in re-establishing its control over the western Black Sea and its vital trade corridor to the Bosphorus.

Your support, no matter how small, makes a world of difference. It is this that makes the anti-war protests against the invasion of Ukraine so telling. Residents feel abandoned and angry in the little frontier town of Shebekino, where cross-border shelling has become a daily reality. The first, a blitzkrieg to capture Kyiv, failed within the first month.
My Website: https://euronewstop.co.uk/what-anti-ship-missiles-is-uk-sending-to-ukraine.html