The important distinction to be made, there were no rebel forces, but the separatist forces. You are giving too much grandeur to the group that is used to torturing people [1]. The takeover was controlled by Russian officers as well [2]
Also the unofficial existence of anti-retreat forces in Russian forces devalues your argument. If they shoot the deserters, do they really care about the civilians? Especially considering that their propaganda will tell it's "bad" Ukrainians anyway. It defies logic and that's exactly how Russia loves to operate (see: Putin's speeches)
This meme just won't go away, because most people don't believe how barbarous and cruel Russians can be. [3]
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Izolyatsia_prison
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Igor_Girkin
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_torture_chambers_in_Uk...
I assume the top poster meant the cruise missile bombing campaigns against western cities like Lyiv, Kyiv, Kharkiv, etc.
"Confirmed" by Radio Free Europe, a notable russian propaganda outlet. The only sources they're basing it on are the OSCE saying it's probably rockets, the fucking Daily Beast and CNN saying that the explosion patterns looked like it came from airbust weapons, that could have been fired by an Su25/Su27. Yes, the ukrainian forces have those. You know who else does ? The russian troops explicitly supporting the DPR and LNR with logistics and hardware. The reality of things is, we have no idea who did it, whether it was a false flag, a mistake, an actual ukrainian attack, or anything else.
>do you think it's the Russian or rebel forces bombed Luhansk and Donetsk since 2014
Luhansk and Donetsk were being invaded by a foreign country. Why should Ukraine not be able to respond to an invasion, or to terrorists being funded by said foreign country ?
They refused to even call that lie a lie even as they printed both facts side by side. It was bizarre.
The West definitely lies less than Ukraine though.
If that’s the official Ukrainian version they are up to something really big.
Maybe in the ideal world we should always be open about everything, but unfortunately media, propaganda trolls and the people like you come and twist a single incident into some "both sides are equally bad" bullshit.
Ukraine denies this incident to this day, and has never apologized or made it right to the civilians they killed.
They repeatedly false flagged the incident, however.
They do bomb them. Or do you think it's the Russian or rebel forces bombed Luhansk and Donetsk since 2014, and the Zaporizhia nuclear plant since the war started? There is a ton of blatant lies being told by the pro-Ukranian side before and after the start of the war. For example, the infamous "air conditioner explosion" was later confirmed to be a targeted strike of the Luhansk state administration building by the Ukrainian government.
Of course, it goes in both directions.