‘I want to hug an actual, living person’: How Meduza’s Russian readers are coping with wartime loneliness

Meduza collected reader responses to an earlier piece on wartime loneliness in Russia, and the follow-up letters describe friendships and family ties severed since the 2022 invasion.

Respondents describe narrowing their circles to a handful of people, cutting off relatives who supported the war, avoiding Russian-language media and even Russian-language conversation, and in one case turning to ChatGPT for discussion because it carries no risk of being reported to authorities.

Several described a retreat from the idea of the state as protector, adopting what one called defensive life planning, and a broader numbness to news of death as the war continues into 2026.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.