Russian veteran who claims he was part of the Russian force that invaded Ukraine mocks UK as a ‘small island’.<\/p>\n
Two years since Russia invaded Ukraine and in Moscow’s Victory Park, those we spoke to felt their country was on course.<\/p>\n
“We’re doing the right thing, victory will be ours,” says a woman out for a midday stroll with her family. It’s a common enough phrase, but what victory actually means depends on who you ask.<\/p>\n
“Victory means full defeat of the enemy,” her son, Temikhan, declares. “The principal enemy, the Nazis who are based there.”<\/p>\n
“The Ukrainians are our fraternal people,” his mother adds. “They are not guilty of this.”<\/p>\n
Temikhan is 15 and says he forms his opinions based on YouTube videos, Russian, Ukrainian, Sky News too.<\/p>\n
“The people who wreak havoc there are monsters, they are not even human,” he says.<\/p>\n
I ask about Alexei Navalny<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n Temikhan likes the fact he fought corruption, but isn’t sure about the rest.<\/p>\n “All his life, he criticised his motherland, the country that brought him up. That is very bad,” he says.<\/p>\n We happen across someone who has participated in the war.<\/p>\n “What channel? What state? Quickly!” he barks as I approach. I tell him.<\/p>\n “As a person who took part in the special military operation, don’t bother us, I don’t recommend it,” he tells me full of menace.<\/p>\n “Your island is small and your intelligence service sucks.”<\/p>\n A 10-minute drive down Kutuzovsky Prospect, heading towards the Kremlin, is Ukrainsky Boulevard.<\/p>\n There is a statue there to Lesya Ukrainka, a famous 19th-century Ukrainian writer.<\/p>\n At the beginning of the war and each time there has been a major strike on Ukrainian civilian infrastructure, Muscovites have come to lay flowers there.<\/p>\n There have been detentions – police now know to guard it at key moments but generally they leave the flowers until at least nightfall.<\/p>\n On this anniversary they were cleared up as soon as they were laid.<\/p>\n Social media clips show “Z” types threatening people as they leave.<\/p>\n A man unfurling a “no war” banner there is taken away by police. He will probably just get a warning if it is a first offence, but it won’t be pleasant. And if it is not a first offence, the legal implications start to snowball.<\/p>\n In the evening, as I make my way further down Kutuzovsky Prospect, I look up at the multistorey office block that marks the beginning of the famous Novy Arbat and houses part of the city administration.<\/p>\n I know from memory the Moscow office for illegally annexed Crimea is there, and it commands impressive views across the city when you take the lift to the top.<\/p>\n As long as I can remember now – and this war seems endless – a giant “Z” has illuminated the building’s night-time facade. It is a welcome to Z-land for Vladimir Putin<\/a><\/strong> when he drives this route to the Kremlin for a late-night meeting.<\/p>\n It’s a reminder of a nation at war. For some in the capital, it’s a symbol to be proud of; for others, a mark of terrible shame.<\/p>\n