Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine last Thursday shocked even its own citizens. In previous days, a joke went viral with the response Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky’s administration gave to Biden’s latest warning: “It’s the third time this week.” But on the night of February 24, the Kremlin crossed the borders of Ukraine — and of common sense.

Conflict has been rumbling in Ukraine for the past eight years, and unlike the alarm in international media, the societies most directly involved had remained remarkably passive in recent weeks. True, everyone reacted in their own way, and some were hoarding food and preparing suitcases. But most people on either side of the border did not fall into patriotic exaltation as in 2014. Western journalists expecting to find panic in areas near the front line often ended up disappointed.

A fake screenshot from Moscow city’s municipal app went viral in the Russian segment of the Internet less than two weeks ago: “Unfortunately, enrollment in February’s invasion of Ukraine is over. If you want to take part in the occupation, please try again in March.”