"We are fighting against the genocide of the Russian-speaking population" - Rus. Com.

[Taichiliberal]

Originally Posted by Taichiliberal View Post
Isn't this similar to the BS the Russian's used to invade Afghanistan? I'm not saying the Ukrainian gov't were angels in dealing with the pro-Russian sections, but that does not condone invasion.

America is in no position to talk about unjustified invasions after Iraq, which was done on the back of lies.

This is true.

 

[Scott]

“Concart” has a point, your source, recognized propaganda site

"Recognized" by who?

And the “firing on institutions …………” is rather hypocritical given that the major thrust of Putin’s war effort is deliberately targeting civilian populations

Prior to Ukraine's bombing of the Crimea bridge, Putin had been taking great pains to avoid civilian infrastructure. It was only after that that they began targeting energy facilities in Ukraine. From what I have heard, they still avoid targetting places such as schools and hospitals, despite Kyiv's claims to the contrary.

 

[Scott]

Russia has a history of attacking countries. They can never be trusted. They have done it a couple of times in the last few years.

I can't speak for other countries, but when it comes to Ukraine, the war there started long before Russia started its military operation this year. As I imagine you know, Ukraine has been in a civil war for the past 8 years, wherein most of the people dying are in eastern Ukraine, comprised mainly of Russian speaking Ukrainians as well as ethnic Russians. For 8 years, Russia tried to negotiate a diplomatic settlement, but it's now turned out that Ukraine and the west only negotiated the minsk agreements to give Ukraine time to build up their army:

Merkel: Minsk agreements were meant to 'give Ukraine time' | almayadeen.net

 

[Scott]

As some here may know, I'm a pretty big fan of Canadian American journalist Eva K Bartlett. Recently, she joined RT in Donetsk to film a bit. In the following clip, she interviews Russia's Sparta Commander. She asks some questions, such as what they are fighting for. The Sparta Commander says the following:

**
For the truth, we are fighting for the truth. I always rather answer the question, "what are we fighting against?" We are fighting against injustice, against genocide, against this Russophobica that has formed in the Western world.

The genocide of the Russian-speaking population, the dissident population, those who do not think like them, nationalists, Nazis. Against the genocide of the civilian population, because there is no other way to call the enemy's firing on institutions such as the Kalinin hospital, the children's department where children are, schools, the city center, and the market district.

There is no other way to call it, this is precisely the genocide of the civilian population which they consider to be their Ukrainian population. That's how they love them - they kill them.
**

The full clip is here:

They were living in peace until Putin attacked Ukraine. Putin did not use that excuse. He pretended he was fighting Nazis.

How is a civil war peace? Furthermore, Putin made it explicitly clear that one of the reasons for his military operation was Ukrainian war against the Donbass population. Here's the part where he addresses it:

**
This brings me to the situation in Donbass. We can see that the forces that staged the coup in Ukraine in 2014 have seized power, are keeping it with the help of ornamental election procedures and have abandoned the path of a peaceful conflict settlement. For eight years, for eight endless years we have been doing everything possible to settle the situation by peaceful political means. Everything was in vain.

As I said in my previous address, you cannot look without compassion at what is happening there. It became impossible to tolerate it. We had to stop that atrocity, that genocide of the millions of people who live there and who pinned their hopes on Russia, on all of us. It is their aspirations, the feelings and pain of these people that were the main motivating force behind our decision to recognise the independence of the Donbass people’s republics.
**

Full transcript:
Transcript: Vladimir Putin’s Televised Address on Ukraine | Bloomberg

 

[Scott]

As some here may know, I'm a pretty big fan of Canadian American journalist Eva K Bartlett. Recently, she joined RT in Donetsk to film a bit. In the following clip, she interviews Russia's Sparta Commander. She asks some questions, such as what they are fighting for. The Sparta Commander says the following:

**
For the truth, we are fighting for the truth. I always rather answer the question, "what are we fighting against?" We are fighting against injustice, against genocide, against this Russophobica that has formed in the Western world.

The genocide of the Russian-speaking population, the dissident population, those who do not think like them, nationalists, Nazis. Against the genocide of the civilian population, because there is no other way to call the enemy's firing on institutions such as the Kalinin hospital, the children's department where children are, schools, the city center, and the market district.

There is no other way to call it, this is precisely the genocide of the civilian population which they consider to be their Ukrainian population. That's how they love them - they kill them.
**

"For the truth, we are fighting for the truth. I always rather answer the question, "what are we fighting against?" We are fighting against injustice, against genocide, against this Russophobica that has formed in the Western world."
So that's why they're targeting civilians and infrastructure in Ukrainian cities that are (especially ) now enthusiastically pro-West Ukrainians?

From what I have heard, they only target civilian energy infrastructure, despite Ukraine's claims to the contrary. They didn't even do that until Ukraine bombed the Crimea bridge. This was evidently clear in an article from Newsweek back in March:

Putin's Bombers Could Devastate Ukraine But He's Holding Back. Here's Why | Newsweek

"Against the genocide of the civilian population, because there is no other way to call the enemy's firing on institutions such as the Kalinin hospital, the children's department where children are, schools, the city center, and the market district."
Let's assume that's true. Why do they do the exact same to a sovereign country in far away cities that are no threat to Russia?

Do they, or has the Ukrainian government been lying? I believe that it's the latter, except in a few cases where the Ukrainian government has been using hospitals and other non military facilities for their military? I've even heard of cases that strongly suggest that the Ukrainian army itself committed false flag operations.

"There is no other way to call it, this is precisely the genocide of the civilian population which they consider to be their Ukrainian population. That's how they love them - they kill them."
And that's exactly how Putin and his henchmen consider the Ukrainians. They are their Russian brothers whom they love so deeply they murder them. On their own soil..

No. From the start, Putin has made it clear that one of the reasons they started this military operation was to defend the Donbass republics, which are mainly composed of Russian speakers and ethnic Russians. Had Ukraine not initiated a renewed assault on these republics days before Putin started his military opeartion, I strongly suspect Putin wouldn't have started it at all.

Really Phoenyx. I realize you are slightly pro-Russia in this war but I thought you were more objective than to post such blatant propaganda as this. It's waaay too simplistic.
The origins of this war can be traced as far back as Russian violation of the Budapest Memorandum.

The Budapest Memorandum occurred long before Ukraine started killing thousands of its own citizens in the east, many of whom are Russian speaking and ethnic Russians. Russia toiled to try to resolve the situation diplomatically for 8 years with the Minsk agreements before deciding that the Ukrainian government was never going to implement the terms in the agreement. Recently, we've now found out that the Ukrainian government in Kyiv had only agreed to them to buy time to strengthen its army.

 

[Cypress]

If Putin cared about the welfare of Russian speakers, he wouldn't have turned Marupiel, Kharkiv, and thousands of villages and settlements in the Russian-speaking part of Ukraine into smouldering piles of ash.

 

[Scott]

You should read this. It's a little slanted toward Russia (to your liking) but quite objective.
https://www.brookings.edu/blog/orde...re-about-ukraine-and-the-budapest-memorandum/

I read the first 2 paragraphs of Steven Pifer's article. He doesn't even -mention- Euromaidan/Maidan in it, never mind how that started the civil war that raged for 8 years prior to Russia finally deciding that diplomatic initiatives to resolve the crisis were going nowhere.

Looking at the brookings site, I see that Pifer had written an article on Maidan several months before the article you site, back in February 2019:
https://www.brookings.edu/blog/orde...rward-five-years-after-the-maidan-revolution/

Once again, he gets it wrong, apparently blaming the civil war on Russia, when it was Ukraine and its western allies who'd been bombarding the Donbass republics for years by that point.

 

[anonymoose]

I read the first 2 paragraphs of Steven Pifer's article. He doesn't even -mention- Euromaidan/Maidan in it, never mind how that started the civil war that raged for 8 years prior to Russia finally deciding that diplomatic initiatives to resolve the crisis were going nowhere.

Looking at the brookings site, I see that Pifer had written an article on Maidan several months before the article you site, back in February 2019:
https://www.brookings.edu/blog/orde...rward-five-years-after-the-maidan-revolution/

Once again, he gets it wrong, apparently blaming the civil war on Russia, when it was Ukraine and its western allies who'd been bombarding the Donbass republics for years by that point.

Gee, you really believe Kiev with Western aid just bombed eastern Ukraine for no other reason than to kill ethnic Russians?
Fact is neither of us can know the reality of the situation in eastern Ukraine unless we lived there for 10, 15 or more years.
I have no doubt there are/were Russian speakers there that wanted to live in a democracy.
Hell there’s Russians in Russia that want that, especially the younger ones.

If Russia had free elections there’s zero chance Putin would be the president for life.
Imagine trump being president for life with total control of the press. What percent of Americans would be for that?

 

[Scott]

Eva Karene Bartlett is an American Canadian activist, commentator, and blogger who has propagated conspiracy theories in connection to the Syrian civil war,[1][2][3] most notably the disproven allegation that the White Helmets stage rescues and "recycle" children in its videos.[1][4][5][6]

Bartlett describes herself as an "independent writer and rights activist."[4] She writes commentary pieces for Russian state-controlled RT's website.[note 1][8][9] Critics contend that her advocacy amounts to participation in a disinformation campaign aimed at lessening the responsibility of the Assad regime for the acts of indiscriminate killing during the war, and to promote pro-Kremlin content in relation to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.[10] Her posts on social media have been tagged with the disclaimer that her writings "may be partially or wholly under the editorial control of the Russian government."[11]

Bartlett has been living in Russia since 2019. She has been making videos and posts on social media from Ukraine during the Russian invasion, sometimes with journalists from RT. She often appears as a guest on RT. She has been criticised for spreading Kremlin propaganda and misinformation.[10][12]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eva_Bartlett

I've dealt with criticism of Eva Bartlett in another forum and with that Wikipedia quote as well. I imagine that, like in the other forum I was in, it will come up again, and so instead of addressing your point here, I've decided it would be best to create another thread on the subject of Eva Bartlett, something I did in another forum in the past as well. I also decided I'd prefer not to have to deal with the usual ad hominem attacks that tend to dominate discussions of controversial people, and so have created the thread in the APP subforum here. If you'd like to discuss her, I invite you to do so in the thread I created for her here:

Canadian American Journalist Eva Bartlett | justplainpolitics.com

 

[Cypress]

As I imagine you know, Ukraine has been in a civil war for the past 8 years

Every sovereign country on the planet has the right to use military force to put down an internal insurrection.

The United States has done it several times, most recently in a four year war to suppress an insurrection in the southern states.

 

[Scott]

There's more.


Syrian civil war viral disinformation video


In late 2016, Bartlett gained controversy over a video that went viral, in which she said that Syrians "overwhelmingly support" Bashar al-Assad, as evidenced by the results of the 2014 election.[17][18] The election was seen as illegitimate by a number of countries and international organizations,[19][20][21] while Russia has endorsed Assad's mandate. Further, she has characterized the White Helmets as being part of a Western propaganda campaign, alleging that rescues by that organization are hoaxes whereby they "recycle" the same children in footage of staged rescues,[17][18][22] and that "no one in eastern Aleppo has heard of [the White Helmets]".[17]

In the same video, Bartlett falsely claimed that the al-Quds Hospital bombing in April 2016, where 55 died, never occurred, saying it was rebel propaganda.[5][23] Bartlett's claims were amplified by Russian-controlled outlets such as RT, Sputnik News and In The Now.[24][17] The claims were found to be false by Channel 4 News and Snopes.[1][4][5][6] The broader "same girl" internet meme has been categorized as a derivation of the "crisis actor" conspiracy theories.[25] The video presented Bartlett as an independent journalist speaking to the United Nations when in fact the event was staged by the Syrian government.[26]

In 2017, Bartlett was rebuked by The Syria Campaign, an advocacy group that campaigns on behalf of the White Helmets.[27] Relying on research done by the social media intelligence company Graphika, it released a report alleging a Russian disinformation campaign in the Syrian Civil War, according to which Bartlett was part of a network seeking to discredit the White Helmets in order to lessen war crimes committed by the Assad regime.[28][29]

I responded to this in the Eva Bartlett thread I made here:
Canadian American Journalist Eva Bartlett, Post #4 | justplainpolitics.com

 

[Scott]

The only thing wrong with that video is that it is missing the context of Russia having now a long record of bombing hospitals.

I only know of one western media story wherein Russia is accused of bombing a hospital in Mariupol, which I'll detail below. If you know of any others, by all means share and I'll look into them. Here's what I was able to find from a source that I find to be reliable:
INTERVIEW WITH MARIANNA VYSHEMIRSKAYA – THERE WAS NO AIR STRIKE ON MARIUPOL MATERNITY WARD 3 | Donbass Insider

From the article:
**
Marianna Vyshemirskaya, the famous young woman whose photograph was used to illustrate an alleged Russian air strike on Mariupol Maternity Ward No. 3, gave a lengthy interview to Press TV journalist Johnny Miller. With her permission, I have translated this interview into French, where Marianna explains what really happened on 9 March 2022.

[snip]

This interview is interesting for several reasons. First of all, Marianna confirms in this interview what she said in her first interview after arriving in Donetsk at the end of March 2022, namely that there was no Russian air strike on Mariupol Maternity Ward No. 3 where she was staying. There was an explosion outside the building, which blew out the windows and plasterboard walls, but there was no sound of an aeroplane either before or after.

She also confirms that Ukrainian soldiers had moved into the hospital where the maternity ward was located, effectively turning the building into a military target. Her testimony is confirmed by two other testimonies, that of Nikolai, filmed after his evacuation from the city, and another young woman, Viktoria, interviewed in Mariupol itself (see video below).

Viktoria confirms that the Ukrainian soldiers were in the maternity ward, and that something (a shell) fell on the exploding tanks, which would explain the size of the crater. These three testimonies invalidate that of a woman interviewed by France Info, who claimed that there were no Ukrainian soldiers in the hospital and that there had been an air strike.
**

I think it's also worth noting that there is evidence that Ukraine has bombed hospitals in eastern Ukraine recently:

UKRAINIAN ARMY BOMBS KALININA HOSPITAL IN DONETSK FOR TWO DAYS IN A ROW | Donbass Insider

From the article:
**
With two bombings in two days, and four in 10 days on the same hospital in Donetsk, it is clear that the Ukrainian army is deliberately targeting Kalinina Hospital. However, unlike the Ukrainian soldiers, the Russian soldiers do not install firing posts or weapons on the territory of hospitals. This is therefore another war crime by the Ukrainian army.

And whereas in March 2022, the entire Western press had howled at the bombing of Marioupol’s maternity hospital No. 3 by the Russian army (see the interview with Marianna Vychemirskaya on this subject), after several days of bombing of Donetsk’s Kalinina hospital by the Ukrainian army, and in spite of the civilian victims, there is not a single line on this war crime in the Western media!

Not a single line! Nothing, nada! The champions of virtue and human rights are conspicuous by their silence. The same people who want to set up a special tribunal to judge Russia and especially Vladimir Putin for the alleged war crimes of the Russian army, say nothing when they have very tangible proof of the war crimes of the Ukrainian army (which they arm, finance and train) before their eyes.
**

UKRAINIAN ARMY BOMBS HOSPITAL, TRAIN STATION AND BUS IN DONETSK, LEAVING FOUR CIVILIANS DEAD AND 19 INJURED | Donbass Insider

From the article:

**
Continuing its policy of terror bombings of the capital of the DPR (Donetsk People’s Republic), on 5 August 2022 the Ukrainian army shelled Donetsk’s hospital No. 17, the railway station and a bus in the north of the city, killing four civilians and wounding 19 others (including a child).

While the allied forces (Russian army and DPR people’s militia) took control of the entire village of Peski on the outskirts of Donetsk, the Ukrainian army decided to take revenge on the inhabitants of the town by carrying out new terrorist bombings.

After shelling Colonel Korsa’s funeral ceremony the day before, killing eight civilians and wounding five, the Ukrainian army fired Grad multiple rocket launchers at Donetsk Hospital No. 17 in the Kuibyshevsky district on the morning of 5 August 2022.
**

 

[Scott]

"We are fighting against the genocide of the Russian-speaking population" - Rus. Com.

Zelinskyy, the leader of Ukraine, is a Russian speaking Ukrainian.

He is, but it seems he's turned his back on his roots. There was a time when he sung a very different tune. Tell me, have you ever seen the following skit from Zelensky that he did when he was still a comedian? Quite educational in terms of the radical shift he went through following his election as President...

The following article elaborates on the meaning of what he says in the video above:
Neo-Nazis in Ukraine. Comedians are often more truthful than politicians. | Open Parachute


Here's an article that I thought was quite educational on his shift after becoming President as well, with the help of the U.S.:
Siding With Ukraine’s Far-Right, US Sabotaged Zelensky’s Peace Mandate | Scheerpost

Odesa, a Russian speaking Ukrainian city fought hard to keep the Russians from invading.

Odessa went through a radical transformation as well and was one of the reasons that eastern Ukraine decided to rebel against Kyiv. There was a pivotal event that happened in Odessa in 2014, shortly after the armed rebellion known as Euromaidan that ultimately led to the President of Ukraine fleeing for his life. Evgeny Norin, a Russian historian focused on Russia's wars and international politics, wrote an article on it in RT that I think was quite good:

Burned alive: How the 2014 Odessa massacre became a turning point for Ukraine | RT

Russians are doing the best in areas that are easiest for an outside army to invade, with the number of Russian speakers seeming to have no effect on it.

Do you have any evidence to back up your claim?

By the way Zelinskyy is Jewish, so I would question the claim that Ukraine is taken over by Nazis.

Yes, I know. Again, I suggest you take a look at the video and the links above to see Zelensky's transformation from critic of Kyiv's policies to its enforcer.

 

[PostmodernProphet]

we need to stop Russia before they annex Crimea......

 

[Hawkeye10]

I only kn
------------------
snip

The Russians did it in Chechnya, and ever since.

 

[Scott]

If Putin cared about the welfare of Russian speakers, he wouldn't have turned Marupiel, Kharkiv, and thousands of villages and settlements in the Russian-speaking part of Ukraine into smouldering piles of ash.

Pretty sure that's an exageration in most if not all of the cities you mention. Certainly it's not true in the case of Mariupol. RT actually did a documentary that details that the first army to enter Mariupol was not Russia's, but Kyiv's, when it went in to "subdue" the open rebellion that had started there after the Euromaidan forces had removed the former Ukrainian President Yanukovych from power. They also document some of the work that Russians put into providing humanitarian aid to those in Mariupol during Russia's military operation there. It's here if you're interested:

Mariupol: A Homecoming - Looking back at the origins of the battle | RT

 

[Scott]

I read the first 2 paragraphs of Steven Pifer's article. He doesn't even -mention- Euromaidan/Maidan in it, never mind how that started the civil war that raged for 8 years prior to Russia finally deciding that diplomatic initiatives to resolve the crisis were going nowhere.

Looking at the brookings site, I see that Pifer had written an article on Maidan several months before the article you site, back in February 2019:
https://www.brookings.edu/blog/orde...rward-five-years-after-the-maidan-revolution/

Once again, he gets it wrong, apparently blaming the civil war on Russia, when it was Ukraine and its western allies who'd been bombarding the Donbass republics for years by that point.

Gee, you really believe Kiev with Western aid just bombed eastern Ukraine for no other reason than to kill ethnic Russians?

I never made that claim. As to why Kiev/Kyiv decided to start a military operation on its own people back in 2014, I'd say the primary factor was the new government administration that was put into place after Ukrainian President Yanukovych fled from his life after the violent protests in Euromaidan. There's one documentary on the war in Donbass that was done by a German journalist team that I thought was quite good. Veterans Today has an article on it, as well as a link to the film itself here:
Ukrainian Agony, the Concealed War (full length video) | Veterans Today

Fact is neither of us can know the reality of the situation in eastern Ukraine unless we lived there for 10, 15 or more years.

I don't think so, though reading articles and watching documentaries from people who have lived there for a time is certainly important in my view.

I have no doubt there are/were Russian speakers there that wanted to live in a democracy. Hell there’s Russians in Russia that want that, especially the younger ones.

Sure. I'm personally glad that Russia decided to take the step to hold referendums in the 4 Ukrainian regions where they control some territory to see if they'd like to join Russia. People may contest the results, but the fact that Russia put a good amount of energy into holding referendums at all is a very positive sign in my view.

If Russia had free elections there’s zero chance Putin would be the president for life.

How are you so sure?

Imagine trump being president for life with total control of the press. What percent of Americans would be for that?

I certainly wouldn't be, though I'm not an American.

 

[Scott]

Every sovereign country on the planet has the right to use military force to put down an internal insurrection.

The United States has done it several times, most recently in a four year war to suppress an insurrection in the southern states.

Do you feel the same way about Britain's use of military force to try to put down the American insurrection, starting in 1775?

 

[Scott]

we need to stop Russia before they annex Crimea......

Pretty sure you know that Russia annexed Crimea back in 2014. What are you getting at?

 

[Scott]

I only know of one western media story wherein Russia is accused of bombing a hospital in Mariupol, which I'll detail below. If you know of any others, by all means share and I'll look into them. Here's what I was able to find from a source that I find to be reliable:
INTERVIEW WITH MARIANNA VYSHEMIRSKAYA – THERE WAS NO AIR STRIKE ON MARIUPOL MATERNITY WARD 3 | Donbass Insider

From the article:
**
Marianna Vyshemirskaya, the famous young woman whose photograph was used to illustrate an alleged Russian air strike on Mariupol Maternity Ward No. 3, gave a lengthy interview to Press TV journalist Johnny Miller. With her permission, I have translated this interview into French, where Marianna explains what really happened on 9 March 2022.

[snip]

This interview is interesting for several reasons. First of all, Marianna confirms in this interview what she said in her first interview after arriving in Donetsk at the end of March 2022, namely that there was no Russian air strike on Mariupol Maternity Ward No. 3 where she was staying. There was an explosion outside the building, which blew out the windows and plasterboard walls, but there was no sound of an aeroplane either before or after.

She also confirms that Ukrainian soldiers had moved into the hospital where the maternity ward was located, effectively turning the building into a military target. Her testimony is confirmed by two other testimonies, that of Nikolai, filmed after his evacuation from the city, and another young woman, Viktoria, interviewed in Mariupol itself (see video below).

Viktoria confirms that the Ukrainian soldiers were in the maternity ward, and that something (a shell) fell on the exploding tanks, which would explain the size of the crater. These three testimonies invalidate that of a woman interviewed by France Info, who claimed that there were no Ukrainian soldiers in the hospital and that there had been an air strike.
**

I think it's also worth noting that there is evidence that Ukraine has bombed hospitals in eastern Ukraine recently:

UKRAINIAN ARMY BOMBS KALININA HOSPITAL IN DONETSK FOR TWO DAYS IN A ROW | Donbass Insider

From the article:
**
With two bombings in two days, and four in 10 days on the same hospital in Donetsk, it is clear that the Ukrainian army is deliberately targeting Kalinina Hospital. However, unlike the Ukrainian soldiers, the Russian soldiers do not install firing posts or weapons on the territory of hospitals. This is therefore another war crime by the Ukrainian army.

And whereas in March 2022, the entire Western press had howled at the bombing of Marioupol’s maternity hospital No. 3 by the Russian army (see the interview with Marianna Vychemirskaya on this subject), after several days of bombing of Donetsk’s Kalinina hospital by the Ukrainian army, and in spite of the civilian victims, there is not a single line on this war crime in the Western media!

Not a single line! Nothing, nada! The champions of virtue and human rights are conspicuous by their silence. The same people who want to set up a special tribunal to judge Russia and especially Vladimir Putin for the alleged war crimes of the Russian army, say nothing when they have very tangible proof of the war crimes of the Ukrainian army (which they arm, finance and train) before their eyes.
**

UKRAINIAN ARMY BOMBS HOSPITAL, TRAIN STATION AND BUS IN DONETSK, LEAVING FOUR CIVILIANS DEAD AND 19 INJURED | Donbass Insider

From the article:

**
Continuing its policy of terror bombings of the capital of the DPR (Donetsk People’s Republic), on 5 August 2022 the Ukrainian army shelled Donetsk’s hospital No. 17, the railway station and a bus in the north of the city, killing four civilians and wounding 19 others (including a child).

While the allied forces (Russian army and DPR people’s militia) took control of the entire village of Peski on the outskirts of Donetsk, the Ukrainian army decided to take revenge on the inhabitants of the town by carrying out new terrorist bombings.

After shelling Colonel Korsa’s funeral ceremony the day before, killing eight civilians and wounding five, the Ukrainian army fired Grad multiple rocket launchers at Donetsk Hospital No. 17 in the Kuibyshevsky district on the morning of 5 August 2022.
**

The Russians did it in Chechnya, and ever since.

I can't speak for Chechnya, but I backed up my position that the only Ukrainian hospital that I know of that was allegedly hit by Russian forces was being used as a military outpost by Ukrainian forces. In contrast, Ukraine has hit eastern Ukranian hospitals that were apparently not being used as military outposts.