I’m pretty sure it wasn’t the citizens of those areas who
were the shelling targets.
Militias, Russians, there were other targets out there.
If the hostiles leave the area, the shelling might stop.
If you have not already, reading (substantially) what Igor Girkin says (has said for several years) and believes and has done is quite illuminating. He himself claims to have “pressed the launching trigger of war” in 2014. And much more. He’s freaking Satan personified. I’d shell him too.