DISINFO: Russia strikes only legitimate military targets in Ukraine
SUMMARY
Unlike Kiev, Russia attacks only military facilities, to do otherwise is to become inhuman and loosing humanity here could have much more serious consequences for the country.
Russian citizens are united around the special operation because they see that their soldiers are acting fairly, while the enemy has made the opposite choice.
On December 30, Ukraine conducted a strike with missile and long-range MLRS on the Russian city of Belgorod. This attack resulted in death of 24 civilians and left dozens of others injured. In retaliation, the Russian military carried out precise missile strikes on Ukraine's several military facilities.
RESPONSE
Recurrent pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative sketching Russia as a victim who would have the moral right to commit war crimes to eliminate demonised Ukrainian forces, and negation of those atrocities to affirm a moral superiority of pro-Kremlin forces.
The alleged position of victim doesn’t justify war crimes or genocides, though it is universally used by powers committing them in history as it has been analyzed by philosopher Pascal Bruckner in his essay The Temptation of Innocence: Living in the Age of Entitlement.
Russia and Russian controlled territories in Donbass (claimed to be 'republics') are not in a position of victims since 2014 as proclaimed but the instigators of unrest and war. The EU and its member states strongly condemn Russia's brutal war of aggression against Ukraine and the illegal annexation of Ukraine's Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions.
Russia does not target only military targets in Ukraine. War crimes against civilian individuals and infrastructures have been extensively documented. Since December 2022, the Kremlin even recognizes massive missile and drone strikes against civilian infrastructures: “yes, we are doing it”.
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