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‘I just want them to stop shooting’ Meduza’s readers weigh in on Ukraine’s ongoing foray into Russia’s Kursk region

Source: Meduza

In an interview with Meduza last week, top Zelensky aide Mykhailo Podolyak said that Ukraine’s ongoing incursion into the Kursk region aims “to shift the war to Russia’s territory” and highlight the failure of the country’s military and civilian leadership. As he put it, the Ukrainian leadership expects this to have “serious social consequences for Russia.” Meduza asked readers to tell us how they feel about Ukraine’s Kursk offensive and how it has influenced their views. Here’s a selection of the hundreds of replies we received, translated and abridged for length and clarity.

Sasha

Moscow region

Contrary to how I “should” feel, and even contrary to common sense, I’ve had a distinct feeling that some big, good event is unfolding day by day. In many ways, this emotion contradicts a pragmatic view of things — I’ve heard a lot about the possibility of a second mobilization wave [in Russia] if the AFU [Ukrainian Armed Forces] are successful. But I still can’t stop rooting for them. In my mind I understand that this is unethical, it’s bad and so on, but I can’t help this feeling. 

He who sows the wind shall reap the whirlwind. It’s bitter and difficult but we must admit: Ukraine is doing what it has the right to do. 

Katya 

Amsterdam, formerly Kursk 

I was born in Kursk and lived there for 18 years, until I moved to Moscow to study and then emigrated to the Netherlands. I left Russia a month before the start of the war — I made the decision after a trip to see family in Kursk in the fall of 2021. (My whole family still lives there: my parents, little brother and sister, and grandmothers.) Back then, I saw columns of military equipment for the first time and feared an impending disaster. 

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The AFU operation radically changed my attitude towards the war as a whole: [it] awoke a bloodthirsty cruelty, a thirst for retribution. I still remember who started the war, [but] I want the Ukrainians to be removed from the territory where my home is located as quickly as possible, so my family members can go back — their whole life is there, after all. 

I see photographs of the places where I grew up destroyed by war and I’m living through 2022 all over again. I have friends who have died, who have lost their homes. And on the news channels there are hypocritical statements from military experts and Ukrainian politicians, [saying] that now my home has turned into a bargaining chip. How are you any better than the Z-heads, the rabid, bloodthirsty Russians? 

Danil 

Dublin, formerly Odesa 

I don’t think civilians in the Kursk region, looking at how the AFU is destroying their homes, will think about the fact that Ukrainians have lived like this for a long time. I’ve been to Russia many times and reflection isn’t something you notice in the majority of people.

This will more likely encourage Russians to be more aggressive, since it will bring them out of the state of apathy they’ve been in for more than two years, and it will make them support Russia more actively. It’s unlikely that those who supported the SVO [the “special military operation”]will change their minds. But it’s very possible that those who were against it might change their opinion, seeing as the war has affected their loved ones and it’s Ukraine’s “fault.” 

Nadezhda (name changed)

Zaoleshenka village, Sudzhansky district, Kursk region 

I don’t accept violence in any form. And I don’t know how the Ukrainians should act in this situation. It’s hard to judge people who are defending their land — even if it means seizing someone else’s. I’m very scared; our home is there. My parents can’t go back or even find out what happened to it.

The [Russian] Defense Ministry says that it’s “striking” [Ukrainian troop] clusters in Zaoleshenke and this makes things even scarier; they’ll destroy everything indiscriminately. They need to show a pretty picture, to say, we’re bravely driving the enemy from our territory (where we ourselves let them in).

It’s difficult to give any moral assessment of this; it’s hell and a nightmare. You shouldn’t kill people. War is always pain, blood, and destruction. This shouldn’t be happening. 

Leonid

Leipzig 

[I have] every desire for the war to end, for Ukraine to develop peacefully, and for Russia to change its government and start living in peace with others. [But] I believe Ukraine’s attack in the Kursk region will only provoke Putin. We need some more subtle and smart moves from Europe and America. In my view, direct aggression doesn’t work against Russia, because they have nothing to lose. [They] don’t feel sorry for people and instead play God and war games — [from Putin’s point of view] this is allowed in your old age. 

Russia must stop [and] Ukraine must move forward on its own. Right now it’s bad for everyone — for Ukraine, where everything is being destroyed and people are dying, and for Russia, which is turning inwards and away from general development.

Alexey

Tbilisi

No, [my attitude] towards the war [hasn’t changed]. War is disgusting and there can be no justification for it. 

The [Kursk] offensive changed my attitude towards anti-war activists, [though] I used to shamelessly count myself among them. It turns out that for them (or for many of them at least), war is when “bad people” kill “good people,” but when the “good people” are holding the “bad people” at gunpoint this isn’t war at all and you can support them. 

Before, my relatives fled Okhtyrka [a city in Ukraine’s Sumy region] to the joyful social media posts of some of my friends [who support the war]. Now, my friends are trembling in horror in Kursk to the laudatory posts of anti-war activists. 

Veronika

Belgorod region

I don’t care where the war is taking place. I just want them to stop shooting. For the majority of skeptics, this operation became an excuse for saying the propagandists are right, that Ukraine was going to attack us. [The AFU operation] won’t convince anyone of anything, it will only make them angrier. 

Ilya 

Finland

I have a negative [attitude towards the AFU incursion into the Kursk region] — now [Russia] can justify the war with Ukraine for decades. The last hopes for a peaceful settlement melted away this year. If Ukraine had done this at the start of the war, there would’ve been an understanding that the AFU was hitting the same sore spots as payback. The [Russian] people would’ve understood the logic. Now, when everyone is tired of the war and [Moscow’s] justification for the hostilities on Ukraine's territory is already embedded in the consciousness of many Russians, an attack on Russian territory becomes an escalation of the conflict — and it will play into the hands of Russia’s government. [The Russian government] will drag its people even deeper into the war because now it’s personal. 

Elena 

Moscow 

Thousands of new people are drawn into the war and experience its horrors. How can I feel good about that? What does it matter which side of the border people live on? Everyone is equally afraid in war. The army of an “unfriendly” country will always kill civilians, soldiers will always rob other people’s homes. This is what war is always like. 

I understand that this is a tactic, but I’m a citizen of Russia; my friends live in the border regions and I will never rejoice at hostilities that take place not far from their homes.

I never supported the war. I opposed it from the very start, in 2022. But whereas back then I believed that the only right [decision] was to lay down arms as quickly as possible, now I want the AFU to leave Russian lands and only then will we lay down our arms.

I can no longer condemn those who go off to fight. Going to another country for no clear reason is one thing, being a soldier who defends a Russian region from shelling is another. The difference is huge. 

Maxim

St. Petersburg

Intellectually, I understand the AFU’s actions. I think the main goal of this operation is to draw Russian forces from other fronts to help [Ukraine’s] defense. In my heart I understand that civilians suffer first and foremost. They find themselves in a game that can’t be won. Their own abandoned them and the others don’t need them.

The only thing I still don’t understand is [why] independent media wrote a lot about how the Russian Armed Forces behaved in the occupied territories of Ukraine, but they’re silent about the AFU [in the Kursk region]. I see this as biased and dishonest.

[My attitude towards the war] has been negative from the very start and remains so. Any war is evil. There’s no such thing as a war for good. 

Mikhail

Astrakhan 

[The AFU offensive] inspired me and gave me faith in justice. Yes, our citizens are suffering. However, these same residents of the Kursk and Belgorod regions zealously cheered the war in marches and parades. Unfortunately, realizations come to everyone differently. Some people need to stick their fingers in a socket to feel what it’s like.

Tatyana

Moscow 

When you start a war of conquest, you shouldn’t be surprised that the fighting can spill over into your territory. In essence, this is a literal example of the saying, “what goes around comes around.” 

The war was and remains a crime. It’s not Ukraine’s fault the AFU is currently seizing Russian territory. This is a direct result of Russia’s attack. It’s normal that Ukraine is looking for any way to truly reclaim what’s theirs, and a hypothetical, future exchange of territories is a completely predictable plan. 

I feel very sorry for the civilians. But frankly I don’t see (and don’t feel) a difference between the Ukrainians, whose homes and cities have been turned to ruins, and the residents of the Belgorod and Kursk regions, who are also forced to leave their homes. The same person is to blame for both these troubles [and] the lives of both will never be the same again. It’s all absolutely terrible and bitter. 

Nikolai 

Novosibirsk

How am I supposed to feel about this? You have to understand that these are the unavoidable realities of war: If you hammer away at a country, then sooner or later you might get a reaction.

I only feel sorry for the people on both sides who aren’t to blame for anything, but are forced to suffer and die just because one person made a decision for everyone. I feel bad for the civilian populations of Ukraine and Russia [and] the soldiers — some of whom kill on command, while others defend their homeland. Meanwhile, the children of bureaucrats sit at home, and young guys with plenty of life left die for them and their palaces.

This offensive didn’t surprise me. I just hope that the AFU’s soldiers will treat prisoners of war and the civilian population with respect. I hope all of this will end soon. [My] faith hasn’t faded yet and it won’t allow [me] to fall into the whirlpool of horror in which Russia and Ukraine find themselves. 

The main culprit sits in the Kremlin — this is an indisputable fact. We need to survive this while remaining human, and not [become] non-humans who rejoice in deaths and call for genocide just because the Ukrainians want to live [on their own terms] and not on orders from the Kremlin.

Olga

Tula

I’m very scared. Our city isn’t far from Kursk. I get scared by the sounds of things flying overhead. I really sympathize with the people of Kursk and I know the state won’t give a shit about us if anything happens. There will be nowhere to go. I also sympathize with the Ukrainians, but unlike them, Russians won’t be able to flee to Europe in the event of hostilities, no one is waiting for us there. The only [thing that awaits us] is temporary accommodations somewhere in Siberia and 10,000 [rubles, or $110]. 

Sofiya 

Yekaterinburg 

This had to happen sooner or later, since Putin’s goal was to protect the position of his gang, not the borders of our country. I’m understanding [of the attacks on Russian territory] — Ukraine has every right to use any methods to fight against the aggressor, including these ones. I’m concerned about the fate of civilians in captured areas, as well as the fate of Ukrainians in similar situations.

[These events] haven’t changed [my] attitude towards the war, but some of my anti-war compatriots were a little disappointed. I hear many voices opposing helping affected residents of border areas. I don’t understand how you can wish such a thing on anyone, even those who support the war and Putin. These are people too, our fellow citizens. We don’t know why they support the war and the authorities, but it’s important to remember [that] fear and ignorance don’t equal a willingness to kill. And we need to learn to live alongside them after all of this is over.

There’s no way to selectively help only those whose views seem right to us — and I’m opposed to collective responsibility in general. You can convince people, but you cannot resurrect them.