Ilya Yashin shared what appeared to be a picture of three children holding a placard in the back of a police van on social media.

It comes as thousands of Russians took to the streets to oppose Vladimir Putin’s brutal war in Ukraine, despite a police crackdown on demonstrations.

Almost 7,000 people have already been detained in as many as 50 cities, according to the human rights project OVD-Info.

Tweeting pictures of the primary school aged children, Mr Yashin said: “Nothing out of the ordinary: just kids in paddy wagons behind an anti-war poster. This is Putin’s Russia, folks. You live here.”

Three children appeared to be in the back of a police van in a picture shared by an opposition politician
Three children appeared to be in the back of a police van in a picture shared by an opposition politician
One of the children held a sign which translates as 'no to war'
One of the children held a sign which translates as ‘no to war’

One of the children can be seen holding a sign which translates as ‘no to war’.

The Moscow politician, who backs Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, added on Facebook : “The realities of Putin’s Russia, guys.

“I am sure that the Kremlin propaganda will now raise a war: do not involve children in politics! They are to blame!

“I don’t know how these kids ended up at the protest. Maybe they came by themselves, maybe with their parents.

“But in fact, many generations in our country (were) taught from the school bench that the worst thing is war, and the main value is the peaceful sky above the head.

“I remember very well how in my native Tushin school N172 we used to draw anti-war posters and stengazets behind the desk. And that’s ok!

“Children against war is damn normal! Children should absorb anti-war ideas with breast milk. And now this is equal to extremism – and this is madness.”

It comes as a 40 mile-long Russian armoured column closes in on Kyiv as Ukraine ’s troops and citizens brace for a “medieval battle” to the death.

Demonstrators have even taken to the streets in Russia despite a crackdown on protests
Demonstrators have even taken to the streets in Russia despite a crackdown on protests ( Image: Valentin Yegorshin/TASS)

UK defence chiefs warned of an ever-increasingly more ruthless Russian assault on Ukraine’s civilians as its commanders became desperate to gain ground.

In another day of bloodshed, missiles hit Kyiv’s TV tower, killing five people and sending black smoke billowing over the capital’s centre- an attack branded “barbaric” by Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry.

Kyiv citizens were ordered to leave or die as Russian forces prepared to launch “precision” strikes against the country’s domestic SBU intelligence agency in the heart of Kyiv.