“Please respond to the strongest plausible interpretation of what someone says, not a weaker one that's easier to criticize. Assume good faith.”

Please don’t get triggered by OP. He/she obviously means the ones that don’t support the war, have 0 influence about what the government does, and will be forced to go and die in a foreign country.

Having empathy for the Russians citizens that are going to die fighting a war they don’t support is not mutually exclusive to having sympathy for the Ukrainians.