If the cities are bombed out husks with no one in them, who has been liberated?

The fact is that artillary war really sucks and you end up with a lot of ruined cities if you have one.

Absolutely, but if you have one regardless, it’s much better to finish it properly the first time around, so you don’t have to do the same thing twice.

Aleppo and Homs come to mind

Have they been successfully liberated from the scourge of Al Nusra front and the moderate rebels of the Free Syrian Army?

The fact is, the country responsible for razing entire cities to the ground is not Ukraine. Russian incompetence tore down Mariupol, not ukrainian resistance.

If Mexico occupied half of the arizona desert and the US counterattacked a few months later and retook it, would you describe the US as “conquering”?

Fixed :)

Well, if it was your country being invaded and the others have occupied your cities, how would you proceed? Tell them that it is okay and you will let it go?