A man who goes by the call sign “Tikhi”, or “Silent”, is married to a Ukrainian he met in Russia, where they live with their two children.
He was visiting his wife’s family in Kyiv during the invasion of Russia.
“If we lived in Russia, she wouldn’t understand,” says the 40-year-old man from the southwestern Russian city of Tolyatti.
He has hardly had any contact with his family in Russia since the start of the fighting.
“They’ve been brainwashed a bit. But I know they’re worried about me,” he says.
To his friends, “they are sitting on their sofas in Russia and repeating: ‘We are going to liberate Ukraine,'” he added.
He regards Russian soldiers as “the enemy”, but while he has applied for Ukrainian citizenship, he will not be able to obtain it until the war is over.
“At the moment, I still have the enemy’s passport,” he says.