Very often they say things like this: “War is certainly bad and unfair, but we have to go all the way once we have started it”. Or, “the war is unfair, but I can't be against my own country”.
There are no war supporters among people I know though, everyone has their own bubble.
This is the most widespread position. On the hardline side there are variations of "you want gay parades?", "Ukrainians hate Russians and are Nazis", "[blacks, but usually the n-word] are fighting for Ukranians", "NATO is trying to destroy us and we must protect ourselves".
1. Because they think that Ukrainian government are US puppets and their main task is to destabilize Russia and hopefully destroy it some day.
2. Because they think that Ukrainian government relies on nazis and supports nazis. I understand that west does not really care about nazis, but for Russians it's a particularly hard topic, because almost every family in Russia lost one or more men in WW2.
3. They think that Ukrainian population is brain washed to foster hate against Russia and Russians. It's dangerous to have such a country on your border.
4. They don't really think that most Ukrainians are separate nation. They consider them generally Russians which were separated by historical accidents. And they want to unite with them.
Their beliefs based on the facts which are hard to dispute:
1) Right Sector - Ukrainian nationalist neo-nazi political party in Ukrainian parliamentary
2) Azov Detachment - neo-Nazi unit of the National Guard of Ukraine, who participated in wars in Donbass
3) Lots of streets are named after Stepan Bandera, for example Stepan Bandera Avenue in Kyiv, who was a leader of Ukrainian ultranationalists and cooperated with Nazi Germany in 1941 against USSR
1) That's a very easy one to dispute - Right Sector has 0 seats in parliament now. Nationalists were losing support consistently in Ukraine.
2) Azov battalion - indeed had been formed with a few neo-Nazis, when Ukraine was literally is complete disarray. However it's very much an overblown issue. The irony is that the people they were fighting against were Russian neo-Nazis - Rusich battalion is neo-Nazi.
2a) Ukraine actually held accountable another neo-nazi battalion for their war crimes. And Russian propaganda is calling anyone "Azov battalion".
3) Yes, there's a few anti-soviet activists that are branded as Nazis. But to point to Bandera, that spent most of the war in a concentration camp(1941-43?), is a little ignorant. There's a however - these memorials to Bandera have not had any affect on Nazi support in today's Ukraine.
You mentioned that you live in Kyiv, so you probably know about "Stepana Bandery Avenue".
All other information I took from Wikipedia.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right_Sector
"Right Sector's political ideology has been described as right-wing, hardline right-wing nationalist, neo-fascist, or neo-Nazi..."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azov_Battalion
The Azov Battalion has been described as a far-right militia, with connections to neo-Nazism and members wearing neo-Nazi and SS symbols and regalia, and expressing neo-Nazi views. The group's insignia features the Wolfsangel, a German heraldic charge inspired by historic wolf traps adopted by the Nazi Party and by WW2 German military units.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stepan_Bandera
Stepan Andriyovych Bandera was a Ukrainian politician, Nazi collaborator and theorist of the militant wing of the far-right Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) and a leader and ideologist of Ukrainian ultranationalists known for his involvement in terrorist activities.
Azov has 900 members. Seven years ago, it was estimated 10 - 20 % are "Nazi's". If true, this is 90 - 180 "Nazi's" in a population of about 40 million. I thank you for pointing this out, and showing everyone that the justification of rape, murder, and execution of Ukrainian women and children is based on Kremlin propaganda.
The current actions of the Russians in Ukraine show and prove that Russia has a much bigger problem with Nazi-esque behaviours.
I think that there could be many reasons why Russians support a special operation.
In glorious Soviet times Russians ruled 16 countries (including Ukraine) that were parts of USSR, had puppet governments in Eastern Europe and friendly governments in Middle Asia and Africa (and by the way Russian Empire was even larger and included territories of modern Poland and Finland). Traitor Gorbachev surrended Eastern Germany and East European countries to America, and traitor Yeltsin (first President of Russia) helped to disintegrate USSR. Many ex-USSR countries were lured into NATO and turned against Russia. Due to Yeltsin following malignant American advices, Russian economy has collapsed, crime rate has raised, and oligarchs have stolen valuable assets, leaving people in poverty.
America also defeated many former Russian allies, like Yugoslavia. Then America refused to stop NATO expansion to the East.
So some people might want a revanche. They want Russia to be strong, victorous and glorious and not a third-world country surrounded by American bases preparing to make a final blow. And if that is not possible, at least they want to stop NATO from expanding to the East.
Also, in Ukraine there are Russian people and some believe that they are treated there unfairly. For example, they are not taught Russian language at school, there is no Russian television and so on. Obviously, Russia must protect them.
Also, propaganda doesn't call it a "war". It is actually illegal to call it a war. It is a "special military operation" for liberation of Ukranian people from Nazis and American influence. As Putin stated, Russia doesn't plan to occupy Ukranian territories.
Russia had no choice and no other means to prevent a big war planned by the West, propaganda says.
So there might be people who believe propaganda. If they have no other sources of information, what should they think?
Also, here are some quotes from a pro-government news agency TASS. Hope they give an idea how propaganda portrays the situation around Ukraine:
> the majority of Russian respondents - 88% - agreed that there are nazist organizations in Ukraine that are a threat to Russia ... 70% of respondents stated that Unkrainian government supports such nazist organizations ... According to the results of the poll, most respondents expect that special military operation will end with a trial of Ukranian nazis for commited crimes. [1]
> Medinsky (presidential aide) : The crimes commited by Ukranian government against Russian people in Ukraine became a challenge for Russia ... Russia has to protect peaceful civilians, its compatriots, who were assaulted, killed, threatened... [2]
> Russian senator Ekaterina Altabaeva: one cannot exclude Russia from world politics, and current special operation for denazification of thе country and protection of Russian-speaking citizens affirms a fateful role that Russia has always played in the world history ... at the end of 18th century not a single gun in Europe was allowed to fire without Russia's permission... [3]
And here is quote from other news agency:
> Military operation in Donbass is not a beginning of a war, but an attempt to prevent a global war, said spokeswoman of Ministry of Foreign Affairs ... also, it is an ending of the war that has been continuing for 8 years. [4]
So if someone wants to understand what an average Russian sees in the news or in social networks or on the Yandex frontpage, try reading sites like TASS or Interfax Russia, or 1tv.
Genuinely interested. For the record, I'm vehemently against, so I'd like to understand how on earth another conclusion can be arrived at.
Thanks,