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<\/p>\nSvetlana* used to look forward to summer trips to her holiday house on the outskirts of Moscow, but not anymore.<\/p>\n
The property is not far from one of the Russian capital’s airports. Ukrainian drones striking targets in the area are now a regular occurrence.<\/p>\n
“I was there a couple of days ago and we had six explosions one night,” she told the ABC. “You are no longer just reading about this war in the newspaper. I’m lying on the bed and feeling it myself.”<\/p>\n
For a long time, people in Russia’s largest and most affluent cities were shielded from the impacts of their country’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which is now in its fifth year.<\/p>\n
But these days, their lives are being increasingly disrupted, and the danger posed by drones buzzing overhead is only part of the problem.<\/p>\n
Prices of many items have soared. Fuel is scarce. Travel \u2014 even domestic trips \u2014 can be difficult. Anxiety and frustration among Russians is growing.<\/p>\n
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Smoke rises from Wildberries’ warehouse on the outskirts of St Petersburg after a Ukrainian drone strike. (Social media via Reuters)<\/p>\n
People living in Vladimir Putin’s autocracy have already felt the effects of Western sanctions and tightening Kremlin censorship over the course of the war.<\/p>\n
Recruitment drives to replace the massive number of casualties being sustained on the battlefield are also hard to escape, particularly in regional areas.<\/p>\n
But since Ukraine developed drones capable of striking targets deep inside Russia, things have been getting much more real in the major cities, too.<\/p>\n
“Everything has reached a point where people are really suffering,” Svetlana, who is in her 50s, said. “I know a lot of young people who are on antidepressants now. Or they’ve turned to alcohol. It has become so difficult to cope with the whole situation.”<\/p>\n
Oil refineries have been damaged or destroyed, leading to \u2014 among other things \u2014 long queues at petrol stations.<\/p>\n
Lately, warehouses belonging to a major corporation called Wildberries (often described as Russia’s version of Amazon) have been targeted. It is responsible for roughly 10 per cent of all retail trade in the country.<\/p>\n
Small businesses that use the platform have seen precious stock destroyed. For consumers, the convenience of being able to get items delivered quickly has also gone up in smoke.<\/p>\n
Svetlana has had enough and believes “it’s time for the people in power to change”.<\/p>\n
There is evidence to suggest she is not alone.<\/p>\n
Some Russians ask: ‘What is the point of this war?’<\/p>\n
According to data from the Levada Centre \u2014 an independent polling organisation the Kremlin has designated as a “foreign agent” \u2014 Russians are increasingly depressed about national finances.<\/p>\n
The results of a June survey indicated the country’s Consumer Sentiment Index (CSI) had dropped to 94 points, which is its lowest level in about four years.<\/p>\n
Anything less than 100 points means negative sentiments are more prevalent than positive ones.<\/p>\n
It also released data claiming Putin’s approval rating had fallen to its lowest level since the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine (although it remained at 74 per cent \u2014 a number most politicians could only dream of).<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, a poll of 1,500 people from earlier this month collected by Russia’s Public Opinion Foundation revealed anxiety among people in the country has been rising this year and is now the dominant emotion in many communities.<\/p>\n
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People pose for a photo in front of a closed Gucci store in Moscow. (Reuters: Ramil Sitdikov)<\/p>\n
The statistics do not surprise John Lough, a senior research fellow at the NEST Centre, an organisation that specialises in studying Russia.<\/p>\n
“What is the point of this war? That’s the question Russians are increasingly asking,” he said.<\/p>\n
The country’s state-controlled television stations and newspapers have been careful to spin news about rising prices and increasing inconvenience.<\/p>\n
Fuel shortages, for example, have been put down to maintenance issues at oil refineries, panic buying and seasonally high demand in some reports.<\/p>\n
“The government propaganda is still working,” Michael Rochlitz, an associate professor in the economies of Russia, Eastern Europe and Eurasia at Oxford University told the ABC.<\/p>\n
“On state TV they might acknowledge life has gotten tougher in Russia, but they claim things are far worse in other countries.<\/p>\n
“This is partly why there have not been many public displays of anger against Putin yet.”<\/p>\n
‘Even people who support the war are tired’<\/p>\n
Shortly after Russia launched the full-scale invasion, Katerina* was so incensed she would slip out of her apartment under the cover of darkness and spray-paint anti-war slogans around her native St Petersburg.<\/p>\n
Now, her nights are spent inside, listening to the bangs of Ukrainian drones.<\/p>\n
“It’s such a f***ing nightmare. Two weeks ago, I heard explosions in the block next to where I live,” she said.<\/p>\n
“So you go to the window to look out like an idiot, then the power goes out and you hear sirens [on emergency vehicles] screaming right down the next street.”<\/p>\n
Katerina told the ABC she had noticed things changing in the community in the past 12 months.<\/p>\n
Supermarkets are a particular sore point. According to a BBC analysis, the price of potatoes increased 167 per cent between 2024 and 2026. Chocolate was up 125 per cent over the same period.<\/p>\n
“Prices have risen. Utility prices have increased a lot. All of my friends lost their jobs and left the city. Some were able to leave the country,” she said.<\/p>\n
“Everyone is tired, even people who support the war are tired.”<\/p>\n