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Why Many Russians Feel a Deep Unease Over Going to War The New York Times

 A frank and constructive dialogue is expected to improve relations between states, the Ukrainian president's office said on its official channel on the Telegram messaging app alongside a photo of Mr Szijjarto, Mr Kuleba and Mr Yermak. 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. If the US abandons the military alliance, it will fall to European countries to ensure a Ukrainian victory, Mr OBrien says. A prominent war expert has warned the US is on the verge of diminishing its support for or even withdrawing from NATO - and this could have catastrophic consequences for Europe. Hungary has signalled it is ready to compromise on EU funding for Ukraine - after Brussels reportedly prepared to sabotage its economy if it did not comply. Koneva said public opinion in Russia increasingly seems resigned to a longer-term war. And as Russia's war in Ukraine continues, the U.S. and other Western allies are hitting it with more economic sanctions. I can’t even really tell why they believe what they believe. I deleted some of my messages because the police check social media chats on public transportation. Residents feel abandoned and angry in the little frontier town of Shebekino, where cross-border shelling has become a daily reality. If they are troubled by Russia bombing a city where many have friends and relatives, then they're trying not to show it. International sanctions have not brought Russia to the brink of 1990s-style economic collapse. But, as Belfast-based Russian academic Aleksandr Titov has observed, Russia is nonetheless living through a crisis. What do ordinary Russians really think about the war in Ukraine? It could be their Soviet past, or the government propaganda that has been poured out for so many years, or just that there is too much fear and anxiety to actually allow the thought that the world is different from what they expect. Being far away from them helps because we try to prioritise keeping our relationship intact and caring for each other more than anything. Sometimes I can’t help but try to convince them, which obviously doesn’t work. For the record, they don’t support the war in general, they do want it to stop; however, they can justify it in their heads somehow. I deleted some of my messages because the police check social media chats on public transportation. In addition, the police recently searched the flat of a close friend of mine and then put her under house arrest for two months. The first, a blitzkrieg to capture Kyiv, failed within the first month. The second, the seemingly inevitable offensive, stalled in the summer and was abandoned in early September following the success of Ukraine’s counter-offensive. In the third version, the Russian motherland has been declared in danger and hundreds of thousands of men are being drafted to fight. The “partial mobilisation” declared by Vladimir Putin on September 21st looks like forced improvisation and it is disrupting the balance of interests and loyalties in Russian society, where views on the war are very mixed. 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. Anna*, 22, Moscow – ‘None of us wanted this war’ She supports our president, despite the fact that her whole family is still over there. When I hear it from Ukrainian people, I begin to doubt that our president’s strategy is wrong. Maybe Putin and his people know more and it’s really all justified. I can’t even really tell why they believe what they believe. 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. “Everyone has their own opinion but in general, I believe that children and teenagers should not directly express an ardent point of view about politics, and about the special military operation. Deposits placed in Russian currency began to grow and so did the amount of money Russians invest in the stocks of Russian companies. Beginning in spring 2014, Ukrainian attitudes toward Russia begin to massively change—not because of any state-directed propaganda campaigns but in response to Putin’s military aggression. For most Russians, television remains the main source of the news. It is firmly controlled by the Kremlin and pumps out relentless war propaganda. Ukrainians are said to shell their own cities, and Russian troops are presented as liberators. The rouble (Russia's currency) will fall and people will have it really bad. So https://euronewstop.co.uk/if-russia-invades-ukraine-what-will-happen-in-uk.html must be avoided. It is not people's fault, but it will be ordinary people who will be hit, he said. Going to war is one of Russians’ greatest fears, according to the Levada Center, an independent pollster. And after Mr. Putin’s angry speech and his cryptic televised meeting with his Security Council on Monday, Russians realized that possibility was lurching closer toward becoming reality. “The Russians do not understand the real numbers of losses. … The media gives only authorized information, and the [country at large] 'absorbs’ losses,” she explained. Some 38% of respondents reported the war “has reduced their options or ruined their plans.” Among them, 14% of respondents reported a job loss, 36% a decrease in income and 56% reported spending more savings on food. “The feeling of the inevitability of war from the life of Russians, the feeling that the war is now with us, and we are with this life, caused the emergence of new meanings of war,” Zhuravlev said. Plus Imran Khan's fall from power, a farewell to South Korea and the Belgian rock band who played behind bars. At the start of 2022 one dollar traded for about 75 roubles and a euro for 80. There, for three days, panelists addressed topics related to Ukraine, Russia, war, and culture. 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. I have never seen empty shelves in stores in the centre before. Vladimir Putin’s Russia has sharply constricted the space for free expression in recent years, but some independent pollsters who fled the country have not abandoned their work. This results in skewed samples and inflates the level of support for the war. Prime Minister Viktor Orban has been highly critical of the EU's financial and military aid for Ukraine and has maintained close ties with Russia. Phillips P OBrien, professor of strategic studies at the University of St Andrews, wrote in an analysis piece that the potential return of Donald Trump to the White House could see the US neuter the Western military alliance. “I’m scared and hurt for my friends in Ukraine, who write to me ‘we’re going down into the bomb shelter’. The protesters trickle along smaller streets, following location updates from dedicated Telegram channels. The course of the conflict in 2023 marked the fact that industrial-age warfare had returned too. On Sunday evening, when sanctions against Russian central bank reserves were announced, you could still use an app to order a dollar for up to 140 roubles, and a euro for up to 150. Russian forces may try to push again along the entire front, at least to secure all of the Donbas region. Business, housing and community services, medicine, education – everything will sag.

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