Russian President Vladimir Putin, flanked by Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev and Russian culture minister Olga Lyubimova, at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, November 12, 2025. ALEXANDER ZEMLIANICHENKO / AP
Since their country invaded Ukraine, their paths have continued to diverge. Yet, the same sense of fatalism unites Piotr and Dmitri. “After almost four years of war, we’re at a dead end,” lamented these two fathers, archetypes of Russia’s middle-class liberals. Both preferred to remain anonymous while speaking to a Western journalist from Moscow.
“Our army is advancing too slowly, but we will end up winning. All of this will escalate into a large-scale military conflict between Russia and Europe. Our children need to know: history is made up of cycles. The return of a great war – maybe even a nuclear one – is inevitable,” warned Piotr, a supporter of the Kremlin’s “special military operation” in Ukraine since February 2022. “This war is not ours but, unfortunately, Kyiv may ultimately lose. The hope for peace this summer is gone,” Dmitri said, who has opposed the invasion from the outset. “Russia and the West both have political and economic interests in prolonging the conflict. We have failed to leave a better world for our children.”
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