More than 7,360 Russian protesters have been detained for their participation in demonstrations against the war in Ukraine. On Feb. 24, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy pleaded with the Russian people to rise up and stop their leaders waging war.
Captured Russian soldiers are sending tearful messages to their families back home as the grim reality of war is sinking in for the Russian people.
The nation was left reeling with Moscow's official announcement that 498 soldiers have been killed since the start of the Ukraine invasion, although the real death toll is believed to be much higher.
In a bizarre appearance, Vladimir Putin went on Russian TV and promised the families of all Russians slain in the war would get $65,000 in death benefits. At one point, Putin got up, then sat down again when he thought of something else to say.
One Russian POW recorded a message directly to his mother to reassure her he was still alive. “I want to say to my mom, ‘Wait for me. I will return,’” he said.
Published reports say the Ukrainian Defense Ministry has even invited Russian mothers to come to the capital of Kyiv to pick up their captured sons and take them home.
“I want to go home so badly,” one soldier said.
The chant "No to war" is resounding throughout Russia.
In St. Petersburg, an elderly woman stood up to a squad of armored police during an anti-war protest. She is said to be a child survivor of the Nazi siege of Leningrad during World War II.
More than 7,360 Russian protesters have been detained. On Feb. 24, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanked the Russian people for their courage in standing up to their leaders waging war.
"To all the citizens of the Russian Federation who come out to protest, I want to say: We see you. This means that you heard us," he said. "This means that you begin to trust us. Fight for us. Fight against war.”
