To put it simply, before launching an offensive, it’s worth thinking about who will fight in that offensive and how willingly, and to what extent an active conflict will prompt people to rally around Putin. The evidence suggests that even in the best-case scenario, the mobilization effect will be nonexistent. Volkov says these polls are conducted face-to-face, and people are assured of anonymity. Still, he notes, the survey results reveal at least as much about what people are willing to say in public than about how they truly feel. https://euronewstop.co.uk/what-is-a-no-fly-zone-above-ukraine.html found that some 80% of respondents do support the military, but that group is by no means a monolith. He says about 50% have "definite support" without any qualms, but the other 30% have support with reservations.
- And other specialised apps, like Matlab (a programming and computing platform) and Coursera (an online course platform).
- The stock market remains closed amid fears of a massive share sell-off.
- 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.
- 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.
Conscription requires young men and women to serve for a limited time in uniform. It means that some of the population will have had some military training - and can then be assigned to reserve units should war break out. Those standing against Mr Putin in the upcoming election, including anti-war candidate Boris Nadezhdin, have until Wednesday to gather the required number of supporters' signatures to back their campaigns.
Russia's Leningrad defences 'poor'
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. Russian military enlistment offices have been attacked 220 times since the war in Ukraine began, Moscow’s interior ministry has said. Ukraine’s president signed a decree instructing the government to develop a plan for preserving the national identity of the “historically inhabited lands” of Krasnodar Krai, Belgorod, Bryansk, Voronezh, Kursk and Rostov.
The Iranian-designed Shahed attack drones were shot down over central and southern areas of Ukraine, its air force said. Russia will be grilled by the United Nations on Monday about the thousands of Ukrainian children believed to have been abducted and sent to Russia since the war began. Ukrainian drones attacked a St Petersburg oil terminal on Friday and another 110 miles west at Ust-Luga on Sunday. A man serving in Ukraine’s national guard has been arrested after four people were murdered in a Donetsk city.
The EU has to make a U-turn on teenagers driving lorries
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 don’t support that view, but I do think we need some changes. On one hand, it’s affected everyone – psychologically, economically, and in many other ways. And on the other hand, I understand that we could be hurt if we did something to try and change it. People are arrested for even walking around the area where a protest was scheduled. When I think about the conflict, I feel anxious, sad, and frustrated.
- Those with more meagre resources are going to recruiting stations.
- No region of Ukraine, and no age group, has a majority where respondents say Russians and Ukrainians are one people.
- Adm Rob Bauer, who heads the alliance's military committee, said the public needed to change their mindset for an era "when anything can happen at any time".
- The poll was completed before Putin’s announcement that Russia would send what he called “peacekeepers” into the regions.
Overall, the war’s outcome will depend on the mood of the group who support it and on the group of conformists who go along with it. That is because its most avid proponents, and its most intractable opponents, will not change their minds. If those who see it as a “just” war start to suspect that it is slipping into an existential conflict with the West, or if conformists change their risk calculations because they face being drafted, the balance of opinion may shift decisively. Volkov adds that public opinion matters, even though the Russian government isn't taking the public's pulse in order to plan its next moves. He says officials are instead monitoring the situation to make sure that it's "under control." 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.
"You will not silence us," Meduza said in a defiant statement. "We need independent media to stop the war and then try and improve life in Russia at least to a degree." There is more variety of opinion in the press, but it still largely sticks to the Kremlin line. A stalwart of independent reporting for almost 29 years, the Novaya Gazeta newspaper, suspended operations on 28 March after receiving warnings from Russia's media watchdog Roskomnadzor. Koneva said public opinion in Russia increasingly seems resigned to a longer-term war.