This is 4,000 miles from Ukraine

On an ice rink in Vladivostok in the Far East of Russia, 30-year-old Dmitry Afanasev is training with teammates from Soyuz, the local ice hockey team.

The players have removed their prosthetic legs and sit in specially designed sleds. They use their hockey sticks to move around the rink.

Dmitry hopes that one day he will be a paralympic ice hockey champion.

It will not be easy to happen. Russian teams were banned from the last Paralympic Games during the war in Ukraine.

And like all his teammates, Dmitry was on the front line.

“Mina came to me,” recalls Dmitry, who was mobilized to fight in Ukraine. “I fell to the ground and felt my foot burn. I looked down and everything was torn.

“My wife is a surgeon. So, I sent her a picture of my leg and she replied,” They will probably see him. ” – Okay,” I said, if I had one leg or two legs.

The port city of Vladivostok is more than 4,000 miles from Ukraine and the capital of Russia. This is Asia. The border with North Korea is 80 miles from Vladivostok. China is only 35 miles away.

Yet the consequences of a far war in Europe are more than visible.

There are lines of fresh graves on a cemetery on a hill overlooking Vladivostok: Russian soldiers killed in Ukraine. In addition to orthodox Christian crosses, military banners and Russian tricolors mark each plot.

In another section of the cemetery stands the Memorial “On the characters of the Special Military Operation”, the official label of the Kremlin continues to use for the war of Russia against Ukraine. There are more graves from Russian servicemen and the statue of an armed Russian soldier.

“Soldiers live forever,” the inscription said.

By order of President Putin, Russian troops poured across the border with Ukraine in February 2022. The full -scale invasion of Russia’s neighbor was widely regarded as an attempt by the Kremlin to force Ukraine back into Moscow’s orbit.

More than three and a half years later, the war has been raging.

On the air, I am often asked: What does the Russian people think of the war in Ukraine, the confrontation with the West and President Putin?

“What do the Russians think?” is a difficult question to answer.

After all, Russia is so large and diverse. The largest country in the world covers two continents and 11 time zones. Some parts of Russia, such as Kursk and Belgorod, border Ukraine.

Other Russian regions, such as Primorsky Krai, where I am now, are far from fighting. Vladivostok is his administrative center.

This is the most remote I have traveled to Russia since the beginning of the war. This is a chance to judge the mood in a completely different part of the country.

“Of course we are worried,” Svetlana tells me in Vladivostok Park when I ask her about Ukraine. “This has been going on for years and we want to end as soon as possible. We hoped that the Alaska Summit (Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin) would change something. It’s not.

“People are people. No matter if they are British or American, Japanese or Ukrainian. I don’t know where all the hatred comes from.”

I talk to Ilya, who claims that the war in Ukraine has not dramatically changed its life in Russia.

“You can still make a living and get here,” Ilya says.

“The standard of living does not increase, but it does not fall. However, we hope that relations with other countries will improve and that we will be integrated again into the global space.”

In the center of Vladivostok I stop listening to a group that ends up on a pedestrian street. I’m not alone. A large crowd gathered to enjoy the improvised rock concert.

Among the songs, I talk to the leading singer, a young local musician who calls himself Johnny London.

“Do people talk a lot about what is happening in Ukraine?” I ask.

“People my age, we usually don’t discuss these things. Not very often. I would get there to say that we never talk about it.”

“Why?” I ask.

“We can’t do anything about it. It’s out of our hands, beyond our reach. We hope that in a few years he will return to his normal state.”

“And what is normal?”

“There is no war, I guess. That would be nice.”

When I finished talking to Johnny London, a retiree called Victor, he walks. He recognized me. He saw me on television last year at a press conference with Vladimir Putin.

“You asked Putin a question, didn’t you?” says Victor. “You are with the BBC.”

Victor is a big fan. Not from the BBC, but to President Putin. He criticizes my “provocative question” to the Kremlin leader for the war in Ukraine, he defends Russia’s political system and strives for the Biden administration during the 2016 presidential election.

“With the help of newsletters by mail, Biden practically stole the Trump election,” Victor says.

“That’s what Trump says,” I say.

“Not only. Putin says it,” Victor replied.

“Putin says that doesn’t make it a fact,” I suggest.

“True,” Victor admits. “But that’s what our people think.”

Victor also believes that the West is losing power and influence.

“Look what is happening,” Victor says. “This week in China, the leaders of India, China and Russia have gathered with many other countries too. But there was no Trump, no UK, no Germany, no France. India and China are only three billion people.”

On his return from China, Vladimir Putin stopped in Vladivostok. If I get the opportunity to ask the president another question, Victor suggests that this should be for the “new world order”.

The city is preparing for the visit and participation of the Kremlin leader in the Eastern Economic Forum. To the side of the road leading to the place, the street artist Philip Dulmachenko used 1800 boxes of aerosol paint to create the most unusual image.

The giant mural depicts Vladimir Putin in war fatigue, embracing a Siberian tiger.

“Amur’s tiger has always been a symbol of wildlife,” says Philip. “And Vladimir Putin is a symbol of Russia.”

Philip tells me that when he was a teenager, he ruled with the police over his street art. But Putin’s murals are officially approved by regional authorities.

And to accompany the photo, the artist painted a short sentence to spray: Philip says he is just for sunrise in the Russian Far East.

However, in combination with the images of a tiger and a president, who believes that he is restoring Russian authorities, words seem to be a deeper meaning:

“Dawn starts here.”