'The war should be ended at once': Russian MP joins in calls for end to conflict in Ukraine

More than 2,000 people have been arrested in Russia since Thursday at demonstrations.

Ukrainian soldiers stand past a burnt Ukrainian army vehicle on the west side of the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv. Source: AFP / DANIEL LEAL/AFP via Getty Images

Calls are growing inside Russia for President Vladimir Putin to stop the war against Ukraine.

"We, Russian doctors, nurses, and paramedics, are decidedly against the attacks conducted by Russian troops on Ukrainian territory," read a petition in Russia that was signed by more than 300 people.

Dozens of Russian humanitarian organisations published an open letter to Mr Putin, asking him to stop the war.

It said: "War is a humanitarian catastrophe that leads to pain and suffering ... We consider violent solutions to political conflicts inhumane and call upon you to cease fire and begin negotiations."

Separately, MP Mikhail Matveev, a representative of the Russian Communist Party, demanded an end to the conflict.

He said that it had not been his intention to unleash a war with his vote in parliament to recognise the People's Republics of Donetsk and Luhansk as independent states.

"I think that the war should be ended at once. When I voted for the recognition of DNR/LNR, I voted for peace and not for war," he said, using the Russian acronyms for the self-declared republics.

His intention had been "that Russia act as a shield, so that the Donbas is not bombed, not that Kyiv be bombed".

Hundreds of people gathered in the centres of Moscow and St Petersburg on Thursday, protesting against Russia's attack on Ukraine. Source: AP / Dmitri Lovetsky/AP

More than 2,000 people have been arrested in Russia since Thursday at demonstrations against the war.

Russian authorities prefer to speak of a "military operation" and have been taking action against the use of the word "war" in the media.

Foreign television channels have been blocked for days in a large residential and office complex in the centre of Moscow, where many diplomats and foreign correspondents live and work alongside Russian officials.

The management of the building has blamed a failure of the satellite systems and has offered to activate Russian state channels instead.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine has killed scores and prompted widespread condemnation from US and European leaders. Credit: Chris McGrath/Getty Images

Mr Putin has justified his war on Ukraine by saying that he wanted to disarm the NATO-aspiring country and liberate it from its "neo-Nazi" government.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has accused Mr Putin of unprecedented aggression and declared resistance.