One person shouldn’t be in power for a long time, all this power twists and corrupts people. Ukraine revealed at the end of 2022 that 10-13,000 of its soldiers had been killed since the start of the war. That figure cannot be confirmed, but it followed a US estimate of some 100,000 Ukrainians killed or wounded by November. Before Western artillery arrived in the east last summer, Kyiv officials said 100 to 200 troops were dying every day.
I believe that the political system in Russia will be severely degraded in the coming years. Business, housing and community services, medicine, education – everything will sag. After such colossal losses, the army will have to be rebuilt again. It seemed to me that all this was not real and could not last long. But as time passed, I got used to it, no matter how terrible it was.
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Russian state television—instrumental in shaping public opinion—serves all these audiences. Yet Volkov added that this tolerance, however passive, is likely to remain quite stable, even strong. “If I watched different channels, I would probably have a different opinion, but I don’t watch them,” she said.
- On some level, the data likely reflect an impulse, whether born of fear or passivity, to repeat approved messages rather than articulate your own.
- This war is based in no small part on dehumanizing Ukrainians as a group.
- The night ends with a 39-year-old man driving a car into the police barriers at Pushkin Square with signs “This is war!
There have also been reports of troops landing by sea at the Black Sea port cities of Mariupol and Odesa in the south. A British resident of Odesa told the BBC many people were leaving. Tanks and troops have poured into Ukraine at points along its eastern, southern and northern borders, Ukraine says. There are, however, Russian independent media who still defy government restrictions. As https://euronewstop.co.uk/how-big-is-ukraine-compared-to-uk.html , some of the few remaining independent media in Russia have started to censor themselves.
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I can do without access to the blocked social media platforms. I don’t support that view, but I do think we need some changes. In response, the US, EU, UK and other countries have levelled sanctions, both general and targeted, and doors have closed to Russians around the world, from research institutions to sporting events, in protest at Russia’s invasion.
- But ordinary Russians, many of whom get their information from state-controlled television which repeats many of the Kremlin's lines, are expected to start noticing differences to their lives soon.
- There is little prospect for now of a ceasefire or peace talks.
- The most popular responses, a third of all telegrams, were expressions of sympathy, support and "calls to be patient until Russia releases them," and a "reminder of the brotherhood of the two peoples."
- My sister was struggling to get baby products for my nephew because the prices skyrocketed.
- Young Russians tell us about a war few wanted and how the sanctions are affecting their lives.
Some teenagers have been arrested for sabotaging railways, sharing anti-war memes on social media, and taking part in peace rallies – although actual criminal charges for under-18s are relatively rare. By early summer Ukraine will be able to use US-made F16 fighter jets for the first time, which it hopes will improve its ability to counter Russian aircraft and strengthen its own air defences. Nato member states have increasingly sent Ukraine air defence systems to protect its cities, as well as missile systems, artillery and drones that helped turn the tide against Russia's invasion. Dissent in Russia is highly risky, with jail sentences handed out for anyone spreading "fake news" about the Russian military.
Residents feel abandoned and angry in the little frontier town of Shebekino, where cross-border shelling has become a daily reality. But local doctors are leaving their jobs in droves, unable to cope with the numbers of war-wounded being brought for treatment in local hospitals. If they are troubled by Russia bombing a city where many have friends and relatives, then they're trying not to show it. But surrounded by reminders of Russia's often relentlessly violent past I felt war was now inevitable. My daily walks were my way of saying goodbye to a world, and perhaps even a country, that could never be the same again.