I don’t think there’s much point in continuing this discussion. To a lot of the things you say I have no response other than “that is simply not true” and if we can’t agree on basic facts of reality then I don’t think any agreement is possible. To summarize my position: Russian allegations of genocide by Ukraine are baseless justification for revanchism about the fall of the USSR. Russian escalation of violence during the war has been wildly disproportionate to anything Ukraine has done. A lot of the specific accusations you list against Ukraine are simply false DARVO, with the potential exception of the inadvisable fighting positions around hospitals thing (Amnesty International published a very critical report on the subject, which I assumed you were aware of and thus I included three links from them in the hopes that you would take their opinions on Russian war crimes more seriously). I also don’t know what to say about the statement that Hamas is a moral military force other than to reiterate that it’s clear we’re not going to agree on this. Basically, I feel that you are reciting a lot of Russian propaganda and I fully expect that your response will be that I am reciting a lot of Western propaganda and I don’t see a reasonable way to reconcile these positions.

stated goal

Oh, great, we’re just accepting the stated goals of aggressors now? I guess I have to apologize for all the things I said about Israel and the US defending themselves from terrorists in Gaza and Iraq and definitely not doing genocide or trying to militarily secure access to oil. What a joke.

Cyprus

Is not a NATO member, and can’t be as long as the dispute with Turkey persists.

Leo2s

Arrived in small numbers in March 2023, after a year of fighting and months of begging. A far cry from the article’s lies about high-tech weapons in Ukraine from the beginning. A few dozen decent tanks and howitzers do not constitute a modern army, particularly with NATO’s emphasis on air power and missiles, both of which arrived very late and with strict limitations.

What are russian troops supposed to do? Not fire back?

Firstly, they’re supposed to not be there at all. If you start a war, and can end the war at any time by just leaving, you are responsible for what happens in that war. Second, yes morally and legally militaries are supposed to not blow up civilians on reports that there are enemies around. Was Israel justified in bombing schools and hospitals in Gaza if Hamas had fighters inside them? If not, why does Russia get a pass? Thirdly, yes they absolutely have targeted civilians deliberately.

https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2022/02/russian-military-commits-indiscriminate-attacks-during-the-invasion-of-ukraine/

https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2022/06/ukraine-deadly-mariupol-theatre-strike-a-clear-war-crime-by-russian-forces-new-investigation/

https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2024/11/russia-ukraine-latest-massive-missile-strike-on-critical-infrastructure-is-a-war-crime/

https://acleddata.com/2025/02/21/bombing-into-submission-russian-targeting-of-civilians-and-infrastructure-in-ukraine/

https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/08/04/ukraine-apparent-russian-cluster-munition-attack

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-60629851

Fourth, you didn’t address the point about mass graves, or the just blatant massacres.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/sep/16/some-hanged-themselves-the-work-to-find-answers-amid-iziums-mass-grave

https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2022/12/un-report-details-summary-executions-civilians-russian-troops-northern

What a bunch of nonsense.

The idea that Russia landed airborne troops in Kyiv without wanting to at the very least overthrow the Ukrainian government (just as the US likes to overthrow Latin American countries, which leftists rightly deride as imperialist, but many can’t seem to recognize when non-western countries do it) is laughable. It also ignores Putin’s clearly-stated belief that Ukraine has no legitimate existence as a separate country, a belief that he reiterated during his interview with Tucker Carlson instead of saying anything that Western supporters of Russia wanted him to say. It ALSO fails to mention reports from early in the invasion that Putin has personally rejected a peace deal because he wanted to go to war.

A couple other things that jumped out at me:

The idea that the war was over NATO membership is outright nonsense, since that goal HAD ALREADY BEEN ACHIEVED by the annexation of Crimea and support for separatist factions, since NATO membership requires territorial integrity.

The statement that the West gave Ukraine their most advanced weapons is a ridiculous lie to anyone watching Ukraine beg for years to get moderately updated tanks and jets, and mid-range ATACMs. In reality, the Biden administration had been withholding the best weapons specifically because they wanted the war to end like this and just didn’t want to admit it. The things people do are more important than what they say.

The article conveniently fails to mention any Russian war crimes, such as the repeated bombing of civilian infrastructure, including schools and hospitals (only a bad thing when Israel does it, apparently), the Bucha massacre, or reports of mass graves in occupied areas.