Two years after Russia's invasion of Ukraine and in Moscow's Victory Park, those we spoke to felt their country was on the right track.
“We are doing the right thing, and victory will be ours,” says a woman out for a midday walk with her family. It's a common enough phrase, but what victory actually means depends on who you ask.
Her son Temikhan declares that “Victory means the complete defeat of the enemy.” “The main enemy, the Nazis stationed there.”
“Ukrainians are our brotherly people,” his mother adds. “They are not guilty of this.”
Tymekhan is 15 and says he forms his opinions based on YouTube videos, Russian and Ukrainian videos, and Sky News as well.
“The people wreaking havoc there are monsters, they are not even human,” he says.
Ask about Alexei Navalny.
Follow Ukraine war latest: Navalny's body released after mother rejects ultimatum
Laying flowers in memory of Alexei Navalny in Moscow
Temikhan likes the fact that he fought corruption, but he is not sure about the rest.
“All his life, he was critical of his motherland, the country he grew up in,” he says. “This is very bad.”
We meet a person who participated in the war.
“Which channel? Which country? Quickly!” He barks as I approach. I tell him.
“As someone who participated in the special military operation, don’t bother us, I don’t recommend it,” he told me, full of menace.
“Your island is small and your intelligence service is bad.”
A woman begs police to let her friend go after he visited a memorial for Alexei Navalny in Moscow
A 10-minute drive from Kutuzovsky Avenue, heading towards the Kremlin, is Ukrainsky Street.
There is a statue of Lesya Ukrainka, the famous Ukrainian writer of the 19th century.
At the beginning of the war, every time there was a major strike on Ukrainian civilian infrastructure, Muscovites would come to lay flowers there.
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She urged the UK and other NATO allies to consider conscription
Navalny's body is delivered to his mother
There have been arrests – the police now know to guard her at crucial moments, but they generally leave the flowers at least until dark.
On this anniversary, they were purified as soon as they were placed.
Clips on social media show Z-shaped figures threatening people as they leave.
A man holding a “No to War” sign there is arrested by police. He'll probably only get a warning if this is the first offence, but it won't be nice. If it is not the first crime, the legal implications begin to mount.
A man holds a sign reading “No to war” in Moscow
In the evening, as I made my way down Kutuzovsky Street, I looked at the multi-storey office building that marks the beginning of the famous Novy Arbat and houses part of the city administration.
I know from memory that the Moscow office for illegally annexed Crimea is there, and it has great views across the city when you take the elevator to the top.
As far back as I can remember now – and this war seems endless – a giant “Z” lit up the facade of the building at night. He's welcome to Z-land Russian President Vladimir Putin When he drives down this road to the Kremlin for a late-night meeting.
It is a reminder of a nation at war. For some in the capital, it's a symbol they should be proud of; For others, a sign of terrible shame.
