Public Sentiment in Russia Darkens Over Ukraine War

MOSCOW — President Vladimir Putin’s massive military mobilization and growing talk about nuclear weapons in the protracted conflict in Ukraine are making many Russians, including urban elites, worried about consequences of the war.

The WhatsApp messaging group for the residents of a stately post-World War II apartment building on a major street in downtown Moscow, seen by The Wall Street Journal, was posted with these messages of concern: “Is the basement bomb shelter still habitable?” ; “Who do we need to contact to get checked?”; “Where are the entrances?”