Vladimir Putin has made it clear he will not relent in his war in Ukraine but, at home, it has left him with a new battle.
As young Russians fear for their future, some are considering fleeing their motherland.
"He obliterated and really erased all the future that could be possible for me in Russia," Sergey Faldin, 24, told the ABC.
For now, the Russian President appears to have majority support at home for his war in Ukraine, but the backing shrinks among younger generations.
"You have to put this huge amount of money into [war] and it will affect the population," said Moscow student Nikita, 19, who did not want to use his last name to protect his identity.
"It will raise the taxes because the government doesn't have enough money to put into such a big country [as Ukraine]."
Experts warn that, as the war drags on, his support with this vital demographic could thin out even further.
Putin's pitch to the crowds at home
The world watched as the Russian President addressed his country from Red Square in Moscow for the national Victory Day parade.
He was surrounded by his highest-ranking military officers and thousands of his troops, while tanks and trucks rolled through the square in front of him.
Nuclear missiles were paraded down the streets, showing the world what the country could yet unleash.
The May 9 event is an important public holiday, marking the Soviets' victory against Germany in World War II.
Under Putin's leadership, the anniversary has been transformed from a day of commemoration to a show of military might, and this year held extra importance.
Many speculated the President might use the event to announce full-scale war or mass mobilisation in Ukraine. Instead, it was a short address that did neither of those things.
"The highest meaning of life was always the well-being and security of the motherland," Putin told the country in his speech.
"Today, you're defending what our fathers, grandfathers and great grandfathers fought for."
As sanctions tighten, Western corporations flee and more young soldiers die in the battlefields, this was Putin's pitch to Russians: that it was all worth it.
He blamed the West for failing to engage in dialogue, for ignoring Russia's security concerns over NATO's expansion, and called on his citizens to defend their country's borders.
"A lot of money is spent on parades, on weapons, on war and, yet, the people who fought back then, often they live in poverty and die in poverty," anti-war protester Bogdan Litvin told the ABC.
"I fear the country has been eroded, the economic conditions will be so poor after this."
But there are many who believe the message of their leader.
"To me, it's not a war between Russia and … Ukraine. It's a war between Russia and the West," Nikita told the ABC from his bedroom in Moscow.
He believes that NATO's expansion towards Russia has provoked his country's leadership.
"I live in Russia. So, for my country, it is not a good activity from them and, so, you have to defend your borders," he said.
"[The government and state media] put the idea that Russia is a victim, and I agree with this statement to a certain point."
Younger generations may be more sceptical about war
The latest polling from the Levada Centre — a Moscow-based non-government research organisation — suggests that, of those aged 18 to 24, an estimated 71 per cent back the war.
While that's a clear majority in support of military intervention, the level is lower than other age groups.
Among the over-55s in the country, support for the military action was 86 per cent, with 13 per cent not fully supportive.
Nikita said that, for many young people who call Russia home, it is a difficult situation to come to terms with.
"[But] even if your government and your country is wrong, and even if it's putting you in any conflict that you don't want to be in, you still have to support them because it's your country," he said.
"People are dying and all the terrible things happen and, well, there is no doubt about it that it is not that good."
When asked how he feels about the images of mass graves and dead bodies in Ukrainian cities and towns, he said: "It is hard to know what is really true."
"I do not believe necessarily what I see in Russian state media, or what I see in, say, American or British media … to me they all have an agenda."
Some analysts have speculated that Russia may need mass military recruitment drives after suffering heavy losses to continue its war efforts, although it would take months to provide training to new recruits.
"If they start to just put everyone in, just grab people from the streets, then I would probably leave the country for some time," Nikita said.
"But it's the thing that I wouldn't like to do, because I really love Moscow and I want to live here for a long time."
There were several reasons why younger generations may be less supportive than their grandparents, said Alexey Levinson, the Levada Centre's head of research.
"They are not totally switched to a state-regulated TV like their older counterparts. Secondly, their values are more likely to be modern or democratic than ex-Soviet citizens."
He warns that he expects support will drop off among young people, and other demographics too.
"Time will work, not for them, but against them and, within several months, the support of this operation … may fall down.
"Authorities know this … that's why they are spending lots of money on [Victory Day] event.
"They need to really keep strengthening their support, or they may well lose it with time."
'We just had to leave'
Sergey and his wife, Juliet, left their home in Moscow before the war broke out, frustrated by the leadership in their country.
Like many Russians, Juliet has relatives who live in Ukraine, including some of her siblings.
"I was horrified in the first weeks of the war and I was crying all the time and I didn't believe it," she said.
"We struggle with the Russians disbelief in the atrocities. It's just horrifying. It's like country of zombies."
The pair first moved to Georgia and have now relocated to London where they expect they will live for some time.
More than 3.8 million Russians left the country in the first three months of 2022, the Moscow Times reported, but it is unclear how many of them may have returned.
There have been estimates made that 10 per cent of the country's tech workforce have relocated since the war began, which some have described as a "brain-drain".
Meanwhile, some anti-Putin groups have reported an aggressive rise in the number of citizens labelled "foreign agents", or forced to leave the country out of fear for their safety.
"I had to build a new life from the very beginning in a foreign country," said Timofei Martynenko, 26, who is associated with an anti-war organisation.
"I worked with [Russian Opposition Leader] Alexei Navalny's team and I was forced to emigrate due to political persecution."
Meanwhile, Sergey and Juliet are coming to terms with their choice.
"At one point, you just decide that, OK, you can either spend the next two decades fighting or you can spend the next two decades living," Sergey said.
"That's a choice that you have to make, and I don't think that there's necessarily a right choice … but we just had to leave.
"I guess, among our generation, there's this big divide like that. There are people who stay and fight and people who leave for a better life."
