Joe McConnell
Steve Rosenberg, Russia Correspondent
For about a fortnight, Ukrainian armed forces have been conquering and occupying Russian territory.
Ukraine’s cross-border attack in the Kursk region marks the first time since World War II that a foreign army has fought inside Russia.
This is a dramatic and unexpected development in this war, coming nearly two and a half years after President Putin ordered a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The Kremlin has vowed to “drive the enemy” out of Russia. President Putin has not publicly used the word “invasion” to describe the Ukrainian offensive, as if to downplay what is happening and avoid any sense of panic.
But how do the Russian people react?
Driving two and a half hours south of Moscow, in the Tula region, you will arrive in the small, green town of Aleksin.
It is only 100 miles from Moscow, yet it seems a world away from the Russian capital.
The day we go there, there is a “patriotic” pop concert in the town square. Most people I talk to express alarm about what is happening further south.
Since February 2022, Russian state television has broadcast news of Russian armed forces engaged in Ukraine.
Nobody here expected the border with Russia to be violated. There is obvious weariness. Everyone is talking about the need for peace. But at the moment there is no common vision on how this can be achieved.
Repeating the official message of state media, some Russians are calling for “peace on Russia’s terms” (in other words, Ukraine’s full capitulation).
Others express hope that Moscow and Kiev will sit down at the negotiating table and find a way to end the conflict.
The Kremlin continues to call what its troops are doing in Ukraine a “special military operation.” It claims that Russia is now conducting an “anti-terrorist operation” in the Kursk region.
This is the official view. But ordinary Russians use a simple word to describe all this: “war”.
Producer: Liza Shuvalova
