How Russians look to 2023

Berlin What began as a three-day “special operation,” as the Kremlin calls it, has now escalated into the largest war in Eastern Europe since World War II.

And even in the tenth month of fighting in Ukraine, it is still difficult to answer the question of when and how the war will end. The number of peace advocates in Russia is growing, even the polling institutes close to the Kremlin now admit that.

But what do the Russians themselves think about the further course of the war? A picture of the mood in 15 short reports:

Vadim, 39 years old, actor, in Germany since 2015

“Given what I believe to be a lack of Western support for Ukraine, I have a feeling that the war could drag on for several years and severely deplete Ukraine’s resources. Putin knows how to buy time and contract like a boa constrictor and slowly increase the pressure.