Population: "Disgrace"

“Disgrace”: the mood in Russia is extremely tense

The Russians no longer understand the world: how could it have come to this?

(Bild: ASSOCIATED PRESS)

While tens of thousands of Russians are being evacuated from the border regions following Ukraine's advance into Russian territory, there is a lack of understanding and anger in Moscow, 500 kilometers away, about how the invasion could have happened in the first place.

The countermeasures taken by Russia came too late, says Denis, for example, who does not want to give his surname. The Kremlin should have taken immediate action and sent troops. "But the General Staff didn't react".

Over the past few days, Ukrainian troops have crossed the border to the Kursk region and advanced several kilometers into Russian territory - on Saturday, Moscow then announced the evacuation of 76,000 people from the border region. The previous evening, "anti-terror operations" were announced for Kursk and two other border regions, giving the security forces more powers to bring the situation under control. They can now confiscate vehicles, seal off towns, set up checkpoints and listen in on telephone conversations.

The Russians no longer understand the world: how could it have come to this?

(Bild: ASSOCIATED PRESS)

There is a lot of propaganda for the war in the Russian capital.

(Bild: APA/AFP/Alexander NEMENOV)

People are unsettled
At the same time, Moscow announced that it was sending military reinforcements to the border regions, including armored columns and rocket launchers. Many people in Moscow are irritated that the Ukrainian army was able to cross the border so easily. "They may be far away, but it feels very close," said Victoria, a 36-year-old IT analyst, expressing her fears.

"We have to take all possible measures in a situation like this," says 42-year-old architect Alexander Ilyin. "We have departments and managers who are working on this." If there have been omissions somewhere, everything must be done to ensure that this does not happen again, he adds.

The situation in the Russian region of Kursk is extremely difficult:

"Being led around by the nose"
Extensive public aid has been organized for the people evacuated from the border regions. However, there is little coverage of the military situation in the state media. This also annoys Maria, Denis' 35-year-old wife, who works in advertising. Nobody knows "what is happening", she says and criticizes that people are being "led around by the nose". Some TV programs report that "everything is as usual and the enemy has been stopped. But the people on the ground - we have relatives in Kursk - are talking about a disgrace."

Influential military bloggers who support the Russian military offensive in Ukraine have also sharply criticized the army leadership. They criticize the army for not noticing the Ukrainian advance in time and still not averting it after five days.

Biggest attack on Russia since the Second World War
The attack apparently caught Russia, which has far more soldiers and weapons than Ukraine, unprepared. It is essentially the largest attack by a foreign power on Russian territory since the Second World War.

"As far as we know, there are heavy casualties among the soldiers on the Russian side and many destroyed residential buildings," says Denis. The question arises as to who should be held accountable. In his opinion, it is either a "very clever plan" by the Ukrainians - or the result of "mistakes" by the Russian army command.