[Petrosius]

I am not disputing that there were civilian casualties. There were, on both sides. But on neither side were they the result of deliberate targeting of civilians. Rather, they were mostly the result of the heavy use, on both sides, of unguided Grad missiles in the first two years of the war in 2014 and 2015. Civilian casualties dropped off drastically in latter years. In the years immediately prior to Russia's 2022 invasion they were few in numbers and mostly the result of abandoned mines and unexploded artillery rounds. This is according to the reports that the pro-Russian Donbas regimes themselves gave to the UN. Go read the reports. This repeated charge that the Ukrainians were deliberately and constantly shelling the ethnic Russian population in Donbas is rubbish, ugly Russian propaganda. This has been pointed out so many times that it is hard to accept that anyone is now making this charge in good faith.

[rottweiller_inc]

“This is an open war of Russia against Ukraine,” said a soldier from Dnipro 1 volunteer battalion. “Ask our generals why we still have neither artillery nor aviation support.”
from 2014 same complaint as today
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/aug/28/ukraine-russian-fighting-second-front-mariupol