They are the wives and mothers of some of the 300,000 Russian men who were conscripted in September 2022, at a critical period for the Kremlin when it needed to shore up its troop numbers after Ukraine recaptured swathes of territory in the south and north of the country.

More than a year later, with their loved ones still on the battlefield, many women are staging public protests and writing open letters taking to task the official narrative that mobilised troops are required in Russia’s war in Ukraine.