Notes

Why Many Russians Feel a Deep Unease Over Going to War The New York Times
Al Jazeera spoke with five young Russians about their views on the invasion, and how the blowback has affected them. Sanctions have targeted banks, oil refineries, military and luxury product exports as well as members of the Russian regime and oligarchs with close ties to the Kremlin. Companies, too, have closed their doors in Russia, including fast-food giant McDonald’s which has temporarily shut its roughly 850 outlets. Even then, the support rate decreased by only a few percentage points, from 58% to 52%. But it recovered to 57% after three weeks in mid-October 2022.


Was hatred a natural and ultimately inevitable response to the atrocities Ukrainians were being subjected to? Does it change anything to know that many Russians oppose Putin’s war but are powerless to stop him, or to understand that others have been duped into supporting it through his hyper-nationalistic discourse? A few weeks after my trip, I contacted Peter Pomerantsev, who had accompanied me from Lviv to Kyiv. He had been born in Kyiv in 1977, when Ukraine was still a part of the Soviet Union, but was brought up and educated in the United Kingdom, after his parents went into exile there.

Ukraine-Russia war live: Russia 'captures Ukrainian village'
After an uneasy peace with Ukraine, Moscow has sent forces into the Baltics, clashing with British troops based there to protect Nato’s eastern flank. A source familiar with the situation said the drone fell at about 7am local time but had not affected fuel output. Balazs Orban, chief political aide to the prime minister, said Hungary sent a proposal to the EU over the weekend showing it was open to using the budget for the aid package if other "caveats" were added. Unnamed Indian government sources have suggested India wants to distance itself from Russia, according to Reuters news agency. Mr Szijarto will be in the western Ukrainian city of Uzhhorod with his Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba and presidential chief of staff Andriy Yermak. European countries have largely outsourced much of their military capacity and thinking on strategy and security to the States through NATO.


He has worked in both London and Moscow, where he became an expert on Russian propaganda. Now a senior fellow at Johns Hopkins University, Pomerantsev shuttles between Washington, D.C., and Ukraine. I asked him how he felt about the notion of justifiable hatred in the context of Ukraine.

What the ruthless new commander of Russia's military in Ukraine signals for the war
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. But be we warriors or wimps, now is the time to start facing up to the prospect, says Ed Arnold, a European Security Fellow at the Royal United Services Institute. If we took casualties at the rate the Ukrainians are taking them, the NHS would immediately be overwhelmed, and for years we’ve missed recruitment targets for the Armed Forces. A large diversion of citizens to military duty would leave gaps in the workforce to be filled, be it guarding food warehouses or building trenches and bomb shelters. Retired members of essential professions – doctors, nurses, morticians, police – would be urged back into service.


We really want to help, but we haven’t been able to solve problems even in our own country, and now requests are flying around that we stop the war in another country. We write about it on social networks, sign petitions, send money, go to rallies, but so far this hasn’t yielded any results, the government only hits us with a truncheon. I want peace, but my grandmother thinks our military is needed to protect Russians in eastern Ukraine.

What Russians think of the war in Ukraine, according to an independent pollster
As in Ukraine, office techies could be in demand to operate drones on the front lines and to fend off cyberattacks. The logistics of training a “Citizen Army” are also formidable, according to one former Territorial Army (TA) soldier. “If you are talking about mass mobilisation to defend the homeland, that is hundreds of thousands of people,” he said. https://euronewstop.co.uk/why-is-putin-obsessed-with-ukraine.html in Ukraine offers a glimpse of how Britain might prepare for self-defence. Checkpoints and pillboxes would be built at motorway junctions and city entrances.

"You will not silence us," Meduza said in a defiant statement. The Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 saw the return of major war to the European continent. Most ordinary Russians are in the middle, trying to make sense of a situation they didn't choose, don't understand and feel powerless to change. We asked three military analysts how they think events may unfold in the coming 12 months. European countries have largely outsourced much of their military capacity and thinking on strategy and security to the States through NATO.
This apocalyptic narrative sets up Ukraine as the site of this great battle. The second narrative, prevalent on news programmes, emphasises that the “special military operation” in Ukraine is being conducted by professionals to liberate the Russian people of Donbas and other regions. It is presented as a “just war” predicated upon Russia’s responsibility to help Russians in need. To understand the nature and composition of the pro-war majority, you need to dig deeper. Russian state television—instrumental in shaping public opinion—serves all these audiences. He says the firm asks about peoples' feelings, and is seeing that both groups — those who support and oppose the military's actions — are anxious and afraid.


Ukraine's flirtation with NATO membership pushed those fears into overdrive. You can argue that it isn’t realistic or human to force all Russians into a black-and-white response—either oppose the war or you are complicit. People have young children to look after, cancer and other illnesses to manage, aging parents to care for.

In contrast, Ukraine’s three presidents since the 2004 Orange Revolution never organized anti-Russian media campaigns. One of my friends is against our government while her grandmother supports them, and I know that’s caused a quarrel between them. By that, he means that those who were most connected to the outside world might have been less inclined to support Putin's military operation, but now find themselves cut off from the West. I really cannot understand why Russians don’t have the right to eat in McDonald’s. This special operation is complete nonsense and an absurdity that no one needed.
“Covid showed our ugly side, with people getting upset when all they were being asked to do was sit on the sofa at home,” said the former TA soldier. Indeed, for all the foreboding about societal collapse, facing a common threat could give Britain a new-found sense of unity – something many Ukrainians speak of. Just as there was the “Clap for Carers” during the pandemic, similar rituals might take place for those serving at the front.

But it recovered to 57% after three weeks in mid-October 2022. And we’re seeing products disappear from shelves – rice, flour, sugar, canned food – but I guess that’s really just because of mass panic. 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. In the third version, the Russian motherland has been declared in danger and hundreds of thousands of men are being drafted to fight.
Website: https://euronewstop.co.uk/why-is-putin-obsessed-with-ukraine.html