'We don’t talk because they don’t understand'

We don’t talk because they don’t understand - civilians

In a supermarket on the outskirts of Kyiv, bread and dairy shelves are empty, Qazet.az reports.

Still available are delicacies and less popular items, like goat cheese, truffle-flavoured crisps or expensive organic chocolate. The fruit and vegetable stalls are filled with cabbage.

Standing with his friends outside with a cup of latte in his hands, a rare pleasure in Kyiv these days, Yaroslav casually explains they are “staying to defend the city”.

His friend, Iryna, tells of her frustration talking to her relatives in Russia: “We don’t talk because they don’t understand,” she says. “They say every day there is no war.”

“Propaganda is a more powerful weapon than a real weapon,” their friend Serhiy adds.

He tells us young Russians he chats with say they do not believe what they hear from their government: “They understand what will happen in Russia with sanctions, that it will be a new North Korea.

"It is only the young generation that can change something in Russia."