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A Russian editor who protested against Moscow's military action in Ukraine during a state TV news broadcast said on Thursday that she was quitting her job but not accepting an asylum offer from France, calling herself "a patriot".
Marina Ovsyannikova, an editor at Channel One television, barged on to the set of its flagship Vremya (Time) evening news on Monday, holding a poster reading "No War."
She was detained and a Moscow court fined her 30,000 rubles ($290). But despite being freed, she could face further prosecution and up to 15 years in prison under new laws.
She told France 24 television from Moscow on Thursday that she had "handed in all the documents" for her resignation from Channel One. "It's a legal procedure," she said.
Ms Ovsyannikova, who has two young children, said she had "broken the life of our family with this gesture", with her son in particular showing anxiety.
"But we need to put an end to this fratricidal war so this madness does not turn into nuclear war. I hope when my son is older he will understand why I did this," she said.
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A woman cries near a building damaged by shelling in Kyiv as Russia's attack on Ukraine continues. EPA -
A satellite photo from Planet Labs PBC shows the damage from a Russian strike on Lviv's international airport. AP -
Destroyed cars hit by shelling in Kyiv. EPA -
A woman stands in her home after her building was damaged by shelling in Kyiv. EPA -
A pedestrian looks at a cloud of smoke rising after an explosion in Lviv. AP -
General view of a street behind a barricade in the southern Ukrainian city of Odesa. EPA -
The UN Security Council meets on threats to international peace and security in New York. AFP -
US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin speaks with US troops at an army training range in Bulgaria. AP -
Empty strollers are seen outside the Lviv city council building during an action to highlight the number of children killed during the Russian invasion of Ukraine. AFP -
Children play on the stage of the theatre of the Ukrainian House where a shelter for refugees has been installed in Przemysl, south-eastern Poland. AFP -
Smoke is seen above buildings close to the airport in Lviv, Ukraine. Lviv's mayor said the airport was not hit, but an area nearby. Getty Images -
Ukrainian firefighters try to extinguish a blaze at a warehouse after a bombing in Kyiv. AP Photo -
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy presents flowers to Kateryna Vlasenko, 16 - who was injured as she fled with her family from the town of Vorzel - at a hospital in Kyiv. Reuters -
Igor, a 40 year-old Ukranian soldier, embraces his wife in front of his military basement in the centre of Odesa. AFP -
Ukrainian refugees arrive at the reception centre near Palanca Village, about 3 kilometres from the Moldova-Ukraine border. EPA -
Broken windows after parts of a Russian missile, shot down by Ukrainian air defences, hit an apartment block in Kyiv. AP -
People clear debris outside a medical centre damaged by the same Russian missile after it was intercepted. AP -
A police officer looks through the window of a damaged flat in Kyiv. One person was killed and three injured when debris from a downed rocket hit an apartment in the Ukrainian capital. AFP -
Firemen working in the rubble after extensive damage in Kyiv. AFP -
Family members and comrades of Ivan Skrypny, who was killed in a rocket attack on a military base in Yavoriv, pay their last respects at his memorial service in Lviv, Ukraine. Reuters -
A man feels the despair as his home was hit by debris from a downed rocket in Kyiv. Russian troops trying to encircle the capital have launched early morning strikes on the city for several successive days. AFP -
UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed shakes hands with Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov during a news conference following their talks in Moscow. Reuters -
The Donetsk Regional Theatre of Drama, which was destroyed by an air strike during Russia's military onslaught in Mariupol, Ukraine. Reuters -
A satellite image of the theatre before the bombing, with the word 'children' written in Russian in large white letters on the pavement in front of and behind the building. Reuters -
A Ukrainian woman and her family in a taxi displaying the colours of the Ukrainian flag upon arriving in Madrid with a group of Spanish taxi drivers who drove to Poland to support the mass evacuation of refugees. Reuters -
A sanitised train arrives in Kielce, Poland, carrying children with oncological diseases who fled Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Reuters -
A man outside a damaged housing block after it was hit by debris from a downed rocket in Kyiv. AFP -
A residential building damaged by a blast wave at the scene where debris from a downed rocket hit a nearby apartment block in Kyiv. AFP -
Evacuees from Mariupol are seen upon arrival at the car park of a shopping centre on the outskirts of the city of Zaporizhzhia, which is now a registration centre for displaced people. AFP -
Legislators applaud Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ukraine's president, after an address via video link at the Bundestag in Berlin. Bloomberg
French President Emmanuel Macron this week offered asylum or other forms of consular protection to Ms Ovsyannikova, saying he would bring up her case with Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
But she told Germany's Der Spiegel that she would not take up Mr Macron's offer and would stay in Russia.
"I don't want to leave our country," Ms Ovsyannikova said. "I am a patriot, my son is even more so. We don't want to leave in any way, we don't want to go anywhere."
She told Der Spiegel that she had prepared her protest alone but indicated she believed many colleagues privately sympathised with her.
"Most people who work for state television understand very well what is going on. They know only too well that they are doing something wrong," Ms Ovsyannikova said.
She told France 24 that some of her colleagues had resigned but that many were unable to even if they wanted.
"I am happy that people handed in their notice but the economic situation is very hard and people find it very hard to stop their work," Ms Ovsyannikova said.
Press freedom activists outside Russia accuse its state television of painting a severely distorted picture of the war to maintain support for what the Kremlin calls a "special military operation."
Ms Ovsyannikova's prime-time, on-air message in Russian read: "Stop the war. Don't believe propaganda. They are lying to you here."
