The Russians will not see these images in their media.
They are told that Putin's military is coming to the aid of the "brother people" so that they can be liberated from "Nazis".
But instead of welcoming their “liberators” with open arms, Ukrainians in their hundreds of thousands, and possibly even more numbers soon, are voting with their feet and trying to escape the inferno.
That alone shows that the Russian president, if he ever had such considerations, completely misjudged the political mood in the neighboring country.
Don't leave neighboring countries alone
It is good that the European Union is united this time on the issue of taking in war refugees.
Even the perpetual holdouts in Poland and Hungary are now opening their borders.
The other EU partners can now show the governments in Budapest and Warsaw what practical solidarity means.
It goes without saying that the countries immediately bordering Ukraine must not be left alone with the problem.
That is also not to be expected.
Unfortunately, it is also to be expected that the governments in Hungary and Poland will very quickly show their merciless side again if, in the foreseeable future, it is not a matter of Ukrainians but of people from other parts of the world.