'Russians are worried, but trust Putin to deliver peace'

Steve Rosenberg, Russia Correspondent

For nearly a fortnight now Ukrainian forces have been seizing and occupying Russian territory.

Ukraine’s cross-border attack into Kursk region marks the first time since World War II that a foreign army has been fighting inside Russia.

It is a dramatic and unexpected development in this war, nearly two-and-a-half years after President Putin ordered the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

The Kremlin has vowed to ‘force the enemy’ out of Russia. President Putin hasn’t publicly used the word ‘invasion’ to describe the Ukrainian offensive, as if to play down what is happening and avoid any sense of panic.

But how are the Russian people reacting?

Drive two-and-a-half hours south of Moscow, into Tula region, and you’ll arrive in the small leafy town of Aleksin.

It’s only 100 miles from Moscow, yet somehow feels a world away from the Russian capital.

The day we visit there is a ‘patriotic’ pop concert on the town square. Most of the people I speak with express alarm at what is happening further south.

Since February 2022 Russian state TV has been reporting Russian forces operating in Ukraine.

No one here expected Russia’s border to be broached. There is an evident fatigue. Everyone talks of the need for peace. But right now there is no common view of how this can be achieved.

Repeating the official messaging of the state media, some Russians call for “peace on Russia’s terms” (in other words, Ukraine’s full capitulation).

Others express hope that Moscow and Kyiv will sit down at the negotiating table and work out a way to end the conflict.

The Kremlin is still calling what its troops are doing in Ukraine a “special military operation.” It says that now Russia is conducting a “counter-terrorism operation” in Kursk region. That’s the official view. But ordinary Russians use one simple word to describe all of this: ‘war.’

Producer: Liza Shuvalova