peter: hello, and welcome to “focus on europe.” thanks for joining us today. russia's war against ukraine is one that will have major repercussions for the entire continent. the imprint it will leave on europe is unforeseeable, even today. russia's military began attacking its neighbor in late february, upon the orders of president vladimir putin. thousands of troops that were massed at the border have been mobilized. the invasion of ukraine has led to protests and demonstrations

around the world, like this one in berlin. through chats, pictures, and videos, social media is allowing ukrainians to share their experiences with the world. the brutality of the war is visible to people across the globe. anna-mariia lives in odessa and she documented her family's experiences in the first days of the invasion for german television. tense days filled with hope and fear. anna mariia: yesterday was a really hard day for everyone in ukraine. we woke up hearing scary things, but we were asked to stay calm and that's what we're doing right now. reporter: anna-mariia's father is a pastor. he tries to reassure members of his congregation on the phone, while her mother prepares food for a community kitchen that she runs with her husband. anna mariia: we're ok but we are scared but

are trying to stay calm. there are many people who left. we, my family and i, are staying. reporter: this flat belongs to olena. a russian missile hit the building on day two of the war. olena: i want you to show this video so that the whole world sees what aggression and war are. peace must be preserved. we have to do everything to ensure that there is peace, because this is a tragedy. reporter: many have fled to western ukraine. julia is a volunteer seeking to help. julia: this is a camp for the displaced.

we're collecting lots of things for them. take a look. the streets are almost empty. but there are lots of people at the borders. men aren't allowed to leave the country. only women and children. anna mariia: this is what we have just in case of an emergency. so, i have some medicine right here for everyone in my family. we actually thought that it was unlikely that the war was going to spread so fast and that maybe we would have to leave, you know. in case of an emergency, my dad and my mom will drive us to moldova. we don't really want to leave them here. so, yeah.

yeah, so, we brought our backpacks and our luggages up here from our basement. reporter: with events moving fast , the family takes action. anna mariia: me, my sister, her friend, and my father, we are driving to moldovan border right now. yesterday we decided that we would go. this is what we are doing. yeah. reporter: anna-mariia crossed the border safely at the weekend. peter: hundreds of thousands of ukrainians have already fled the war. the european union estimates there could be millions of

refugees. and so, neighboring countries like poland are preparing for their arrival at the border. our reporter traveled to the crossing in przemysl, poland. people there are rallying to help their neighbors, who arrive exhausted and traumatized. but others in poland, like sergey, aren't looking for refuge. he wants to cross into ukraine to defend his country. reporter: more and more refugees are arriving at przemysl station in southeastern poland. there are plenty of children and elderly people but hardly any men. the ukrainian government has banned them from leaving, urging them to join the war instead. sergey skiba wants to do just that. he's a ukrainian reservist living in poland who wants to go back to defend his country. so as the refugees head west, he's trying to go east. sergey: it pains me here.

i can't just watch while there's a war in my country. i have to go there. when i watch tv, it pains me here. reporter: there's chaos at the train station. one train just arrived from lviv in ukraine. the trip usually lasts 1 hour and 50 minutes. but now it can take more than a day. the train drivers have to keep stopping while repairs are made to the tracks which have been damaged by the war. people are exhausted. including anna aralda from the lviv region. anna: it's difficult. we're very grateful to the polish people for helping ukraine. reporter: the queues at passport control are long. this is a european union external border. in front of the station, volunteers are doing everything

they can to help those arriving. offering free transport and accommodation. most people here are outraged about putin's war in ukraine. they want to do anything they can to help, and simply show a little human kindness. oleg smal is going to drive several people to his home in krakow, about three hours west. there, they can stay with him and at a friend's house. the 26-year-old is himself ukrainian. i've got two places free, he says. oleg: my whole family is in ukraine. father, mother, my brothers and their wives and children. they all stayed there. they're in lviv. it's not a good situation. but we're trying to do what we can to help people on this side.

reporter: many ukrainians here are glad to be out of the country, away from war. but reserve soldier sergey skiba remains determined to go to the ukrainian capital. back in 2014, he took part in demonstrations on maidan square against the pro-russian government that was in power at the time. sergey: i was at home and i saw 200 students being beaten up by the police. that's how it all began. i felt so bad about that. that's why i joined the revolution, because i felt sorry for my country. reporter: in krakow, where oleg smal has now arrived with his car full of refugees, there's a pro-ukraine demonstration taking place on the market square. but oleg is keen to get back on

the road to pick up more people from the station at przemysl. and maybe he too will end up going back to ukraine. oleg: i think if my brothers take up arms, i will definitely drive over there. i want to stand shoulder to shoulder with them. reporter: the chaos at the border station has not subsided. reservist sergey is still hoping to get a train heading east. but there are currently no trains going to the ukrainian capital, as the city is under fire. his girlfriend, who is at home in the small polish city of bydgoszcz, keeps contacting him. she's understandably worried. sergey:

she asked me where i was going, what was happening. i told her that there are no trains and so i will wait. she asked me to go back to bydgoszcz but said i couldn't go. reporter: as news comes in that kyiv is under attack, he says that he will do everything he can to get there so he can help defend the city. peter: protesting putin's war in ukraine is not without risk for russians. many there feel compelled to speak out against the war their president started. but, like here in st. petersburg, that can mean ending up in handcuffs. those who dare to criticize the kremlin face severe punishment. still, people across russia are showing their courage, rising up to show solidarity with ukrainians. reporter:

putin's invasion of ukraine is reviving memories of world wars. scattered throughout this collection put together by artist alexander petlura are relics of the former soviet union. petlura comes from an area of eastern ukraine where there's heavy fighting. his . both are worried about the family. >> russian troops are on the hill here. it's right near our home. if fighting breaks out, of course, it would be really bad. alexander: if i were to find out tomorrow that my sister in ukraine has died, it would cause me so much pain that i'd put on a bulletproof vest, take up any old rifle, and go down there myself. reporter: but for now, life goes on in moscow. he lends objects from his collection to other artists and

theaters, today like any other day. performances by the independent theater.doc are known for their social criticism and liberal audiences. their latest production examines the stalin personality cult and asks how somebody can turn into a tyrant who will stop at nothing. alexander: under stalin, we won the second world war. under khrushchev, we flew into space. under gorbachev, we had perestroika. boris yeltsin was the first democratically elected president. obviously, putin needed a main event that would place him on a pedestal as the alpha male, something he'd be remembered for forevermore. reporter: but in the meantime, there's plenty that putin would rather the russian people not know about. for days, the state-run television denied there was any fighting in kyiv. it didn't say a word about

attacks on civilian targets or even use the term “war.” people bring donations for the refugees being evacuated to russia from ukraine's separatist-controlled areas. many russians think the tanks are only being sent in to defend these regions. >> of course, i support our putin. this isn't a war, it's only a special military operation. reporter: but younger russians in particular are hearing other news reports on social media. shortly before the invasion, ukrainian president volodymyr zelensky made a direct appeal to russians for support. president zelensky: i know that my address won't be shown on russian television, but the russian citizens ought to hear the truth. and the truth is that we have to put a stop to all this here. reporter: dmitry muratov recently won the nobel peace prize.

his newspaper, “the novaya gazeta,” came out in both russian and ukrainian last week with the headline, “russia bombs ukraine.” shortly afterward, the russian government banned all media from referring to the invasion of ukraine as a war. dmitry: russia's leadership wants war because dictators always want war. but the russian people don't want war. and so, with the start of the war, the leadership lost their legitimacy. reporter: various professional groups have been expressing their anger in open letters to president putin -- doctors, teachers, and scientists are saying no to the war. thousands of people are signing each letter. even among the members of parliament loyal to putin, disaffection is growing. mikhail matveev followed his conscience when voting to recognize ukraine's breakaway regions as independent people's republics. but when the invasion started, he was shocked.

mikhail: as a member of parliament, i voted for peace, not for war. but obviously, those in russia who were in favor of going to war decided not to wait and see how events would unfold. it's a shame the status of the new republics was never really put to the test. reporter: artur solomonov is the author of the play about stalin. it's been translated into seven languages and performed in israel and the united states. but staging it again here in russia with the war on is a risk. artur: like many others, i'm scared, and i don't want anything bad to happen to me. i'm not willing to sacrifice myself for it, but at the same time, i don't want to be dictated to. reporter: he thinks true mass protests

against russia's war in ukraine will not materialize. and so, they express their criticism on the stage, while they still can. peter: the freedom to criticize the kremlin without fear of reprisals is a reality just a stone's throw away from russia. narva is in estonia, just on the other side of a border river. estonia is in the european union and nato. but russia is carved into its identity. street signs in narva are in estonian, but people there speak almost exclusively russian. the overwhelming majority of residents in narva, like aleksandr klyuchenkov, are ethnic russians. and their ties to the country are strong. reporter: aleksandr klyuchenkov always has his camera with him when he's out and about in his hometown of narva, on estonia's

eastern border. the russian town of ivangorod lies across the river. nato and eu member estonia is connected to russia via a bridge. these days, even less traffic than usual is passing through here. that makes 36-year-old klyuchenkov sad. like most of narva's inhabitants, he is russian. the war against ukraine is a thorny issue here. aleksandr: i think that most russians who live here in estonia say, this is our homeland. but there are many opinions here on this ukraine issue. some are against it, others are for it. there are fierce discussions, especially on social media. reporter: many russians here have relatives on the other side. they greatly distrust the western media. many watch russian tv channels, and their propaganda shapes the image of the ukraine war.

>> after eight years of suffering in donbass, russia has liberated these territories from the ukrainian nationalists. they just launched a special liberation operation. if russia had not intervened, the situation would have only got worse. reporter: aleksandr klyuchenkov does not necessarily share these views. but he still believes it's good to follow russian news sources on the war in ukraine. aleksandr: it's important in this conflict to get your information from different sources. you can't only get information from russian tv stations, but also not only from cnn, bbc, or deutsche welle. the truth lies somewhere in the middle. reporter: but for most estonians and the government, the responsibility for the war lies squarely with russian president vladimir putin. estonians these days are glad to be in nato. this small country hopes that

its nato membership will protect it from russian aggression. britain has increased the number of its soldiers in estonia. and on independence day in tallinn in late february, the country defiantly displayed its readiness to defend itself. the estonian foreign ministry says putin is probably trying to win over the russian minority in estonia. but insists it has no doubts about the loyalty of the russians in estonia. jonatan: we have no concern with regards to any estonian citizens. and at the same time, it is true, the divisis that we h- which are normal because we are democracies -- these divisions are always being used by those who counter us on the international stage. reporter: but more and more russians in estonia are distancing themselves from moscow. in narva, estonians and russians demonstrate together in front of the russian consulate general.

members of the younger generation in particular see themselves as estonians of russian descent, and want nothing to do with putin's war. >> i am really shocked. i follow the news all day on various kinds of media and all sorts of different channels. i am shocked that in the 21st century wars are still possible in europe. >> i think it will affect everyone, because putin will not stop this. and he already said that he will go to the end. >> my sister was born in 1940 during world war ii. my parents experienced the war, too. my entire family was affected. none of us want war. we are against the war and against those who started it.

reporter: for aleksandr klyuchenkov, there is no question of taking part in any demonstrations. he believes that would only create more unrest in narva. he prefers to concentrate on his work as a photographer. aleksandr: the demonstrations seem like theatre productions to me. but of course it's still important for people to express their opinions. it's always better to talk, to have a dialog, and not a war. reporter: klyuchenkov feels the same as most russians in estonia -- they don't want to have to choose between east and west, and the war in ukraine has not changed that. peter: ukraine's invasion has prompted many european countries to reevaluate their priorities. this includes defense spending. germany announced a 100-billion-euro package to modernize its army. sweden already reacted with increased military spending,

after russia annexed crimea in 2014. the nation is also urging its citizens to be prepared for an emergency. reporter: candles, batteries, and hygiene supplies are on miguel guerrero's shopping list for an emergency. he got it from a pamphlet that the swedish authorities distributed to nearly five million households. it's a kind of handbook for surviving war and crisis. miguel: it's probably not a bad idea to start preparations now and get everything together, maybe pack it in a box you can bring out if something were to happen. i don't know if we'll really need it in weeks to come. but getting ready can't hurt. reporter: guerrero works for sweden's armed forces. at present, he's on sabbatical and keeping a close eye on the international situation. miguel: i realize that especially

peop are worried who believed there'd never be another war in our region. reporter: the war in ukraine has shattered the sense of security for many swedes, and influenced their stance on nato. now, for the first timever, more swedes favor membership in nato than oppose it. gotland is sweden's largest island. even in the middle ages, it came under frequent attack, as these fortifications attest. in recent times, it's been more a destination for tourists than would-be conquerors. that changed in late january, when swedish military units arrived to hold maneuvers, bringing tanks, heavy equipment, and hundreds of soldiers. from here, it's just 300 kilometers to kaliningrad, home port of russia's baltic fleet. mattias: gotland is a big island in the middle of the baltic sea.

some say it's like an unsinkable aircraft carrier. if you so desired, you could decide who passes through the region by ship or by plane. so, gotland is strategically important, and has been so for 1000 years. reporter: the maneuvers also served as a show of strength aimed at russia. many of these soldiers have come to gotland to stay. sweden's been building up its military for years, massively. it's invested billions and re-introduced compulsory military service, planning to add 30,000 soldiers to the force. sweden has long been a close partner to nato but stopped short of membership. back in stockholm, people are demonstrating against the war. many are worried about what could happen next. >> we've always thought that war and things like that were far away. but now, it's moving closer. that pains me. >> the russian regime is unpredictable. we can't know how great the danger is for us. reporter:

one of the speakers is sweden's defense minister, peter hultqvist. for now, his government has no plans to discuss nato membership. but national elections are due in the fall, and nato could become an important campaign issue. miguel guerreo keeps fit. he'll soon be returning to active service. he says the discussion about nato is more important than ever. miguel: i can well imagine that many people are starting to waver on the nato issue. we should've thought about this much sooner. if events keep developing as they have been, nato membership would be a very reasonable course of action. reporter: if sweden does join nato, ironically, it will be vladimir putin who gave it the decisive push. peter: well, that's all from us at “focus on europe.” we'll be back next week with more coverage on the war in ukraine. thank you for watching. bye for now.

♪ [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org]

03/24/22 03/24/22 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> nobody -- maybe it will be baltic states, but even those countries from the border with russia, of those countries are not say.