jaydenjoo wrote:I have a different question. Do you think some of the attacks on civilians by Russia were either accidental or was done with the primary goal of attacking military targets but with disregard for collateral damage? Or do you believe some of them were done with attacking civilians as the primary goal? I think it’s likely that at least some were of the latter case, but at the same time don’t understand what Russia has to gain from wasting valuable resources on turning everyone else against themselves.
There are certainly all of the above: attacks on military targets that missed, intentional attacks on civilian targets, indiscriminate attacks, and brutality by troops.
Let's examine each, starting with missed military targets. Russia has an endemic culture of corruption, inefficiency, brutality, and unprofessionalism. An officer without a valid target may report a lie to his higher-ups, which will then result in a missile strike on a residential building. The officer's informants may also lie to the officer. The missiles used may have cheap or replaced components due to corruption, leading to an inaccurate missile. The higher-ups are under pressure to produce results, so they will also lie to their higher-ups. And after that residential building was hit, whoever knows the truth — the officer, informants, higher-ups — do not care about civilian casualties either way. The cycle will be repeated.
Intentional attacks on civilian targets are part of Russia's strategy. The logic goes that if enough damage is done to Ukraine and Ukrainians, they will surrender. Ukrainians will realize they're wrong and come back to Russia (yes, such logic exists) or give up. Calls to wipe Kyiv off the map are common on Russian TV and among the Russian population, especially following instances where the Russian army is defeated. Here's a TV broadcast that calls to drown Ukrainian children:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lkshypC2Rk — it's one of the more extreme ones, but there are hundreds of instances on Russian TV of hosts calling to bomb or nuke Ukrainian cities out of existence.
This all compounds and leads us to the most common explanation: indiscriminate attacks. By far the biggest source of destruction in Ukraine is artillery. Rockets are too expensive and too few, but Russia has an insane supply of shells. Russia's strategy for advancing is simple: use overwhelming artillery advantage to destroy everything in front, then advance. This has been used in
the two Chechen Wars, Georgia, Syria, and now Ukraine. My city (Kharkiv) was damaged the most by artillery, since it's right on the border with Russia. Mariupol, Bakhmut, Marinka, Kherson - artillery.
This is what Marinka looks like today:
Finally, there is sheer brutality — massacres, rape and torture committed by troops and commanders. Well-documented examples of this are
Bucha Massacre and
Izium massacre. Rape and torture are widespread in all areas occupied by Russians. It's yet another reason why negotiating with Russia is not an option, because it will mean our fellow Ukrainians will remain on occupied land to be abused, murdered, tortured, raped. We as a nation prefer to continue fighting.
