Quote (Sioux @ Feb 17 2022 12:28pm)
How about the school russia claimed Ukrainian backed forces shelled? The impact craters point to origination in Russian territory and the holes in the wall face Russia.
The Ukrainian army shelled/bombed/airstriked thousands of civilians homes, schools, apartment buildings and other civilian infrastructure during their 2014-2015 offensive. 5,000 civilians died under their artillery shelling 2014 alone.
The individual instance you speak of could be that the fire came from separatist territory - but without a source article, I have no capacity to judge. Tens of thousands of artillery shells have been exchanged by both sides.
At any rate, I'll play nice for purposes of debate and say maybe your source is right and maybe in *this instance* a school was bombed by separatists - on purpose or on accident, doesn't matter.
Point is, even if it were true it would in no way vindicate the Ukrainian army's countless violations and tens of thousands of instances of shelling on civilian territory over the course of the past 7-8 years. So how would this make them innocent?
Furthermore, the unfortunate reality is that large buildings like schools often become legitimate targets - once they are occupied by military forces of either side. I watched combat footage from inside a former high school, once, somewhere on the Ukrainian front line. Ukrainian military personnel were using it as a forward operating base. Separatist soldiers stormed the building, the Ukrainians fled, leaving behind a few dozen dead and wounded, whom were promptly captured.