‘Got to get used to it’: Moscow braces for more Ukrainian attacks

MOSCOW - In the Moscow district of Maryino, shopkeeper Andrei Kondratyev braced for more Ukrainian attacks and possible petrol shortages, saying Russians needed to “get used to” a new reality.

A day earlier, Kyiv set an oil refinery ablaze in the nearby Kapotnya area in its biggest drone attack on the Russian capital in years engulfing the Russian capital in smoke.

Such scenes were unthinkable when Moscow launched its full-scale offensive against Ukraine in 2022, but have in recent months become part of life in Russia.

Kyiv has sent drones into Russia as far as the Urals in retaliation for Moscow bombing its cities daily.

“We need to already get used to the fact that it can happen anywhere and to anyone. I think we just need to hold it together,” 47-year-old Kondratyev told AFP.

The strikes killed one person – an eight-year-old girl – and wounded over a dozen, Moscow has said.

Kondratyev said he was also readying himself for other side effects of the Ukrainian strikes on oil depots that have made life less comfortable, such as petrol shortages.

Some Russian regions have been hit by fuel shortages that have so far not been severe.

“There will probably be a small lowering in petrol supplies, but authorities have said – and we hope for it – that supplies will continue to arrive,” Kondratyev said.

Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky said he wanted Russians to blame “one man” – President Vladimir Putin – for the war, which has killed hundreds of thousands and gone on longer than World War I.

Putin has not commented on the June 18 strike yet, despite making public appearances.

When launching Moscow’s offensive in 2022, he had told Russians that life back home would not change much.

But, in the fifth year of war, the effects of the conflict in Russia have been increasingly showing, with rising prices, a shortage of labour, and the threat of Ukrainian drone strikes.

The Russian leader has shown no signs of backing down, insisting Moscow intends to capture the whole of eastern Ukraine by force, despite a stalling offensive, and refusing talks with Zelensky.

But, as people still reeled from the strikes on Moscow’s Kapotnya on June 18, they also asked themselves how much longer than conflict can go on for.

“It is very scary, to be honest. The anxiety (from the strike) has not gone away yet. I am shaking,” 41-year-old accountant Olga said.

“I would like peace to come soon and for this to stop.”

Antonina, a 65-year-old economist was “worried for the future” and asked herself: “How will things turn out and when will this whole mess end?”

US President Donald Trump said this week that Moscow should “make a deal” to end the war, as Kyiv’s western allies piled pressure on the Kremlin at the G-7 in France.

But, on the streets of Moscow and far from international talks between leaders, it is not clear what kind of deal Russians would accept.

Moscow has introduced near Soviet-levels of censorship since 2022, with many Russians getting exclusively pro-Kremlin views of the conflict on their televisions and smartphones.

State media does not report on daily Russian strikes on Ukrainian cities and some Russians are in disbelief there could be attacks the other way around.

Irina Starovoitova, a 74-year-old doctor, told AFP said she was “not frightened, but bitter.”

“We feel bitter because a country we considered a brotherly nation is essentially stabbing us back in the back,” she said.

Moscow has historically used the Soviet-era term “brotherly nation” for countries that are loyal to the Kremlin. AFP