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It's not, 'because Putin is a cartoon evil person who laughs at babies blown up and does it for his own pleasure'.
As military experts are saying, it's simply a tactic - as one put it, it forces Ukraine to choose whether to use limited military resources to better protect the civilians under attack and help the wounded, OR to use them for a stronger force against the Russian forces.
That's it. It's simply an approach that places zero value on the lives of civilians, and uses them as cannon fodder to try to weaken Ukrainian defenses to have to care for civilians being bombed in as many cities as possible.
It's simply a ruthless military tactic Russians use regularly IIUC.
To give 'the other side', the west, Russia's enemies, recognize that this tactic very rightly allows turning public opinion against Putin, weakening HIM - including with the Russian people if we can get the information to them - and so it's both right for us to condemn him for it AND it helps weaken Putin to do so. Which is why you sometimes see enemies demonized that way even when it isn't true, but with Putin, the truth works fine.
As military experts are saying, it's simply a tactic - as one put it, it forces Ukraine to choose whether to use limited military resources to better protect the civilians under attack and help the wounded, OR to use them for a stronger force against the Russian forces.
That's it. It's simply an approach that places zero value on the lives of civilians, and uses them as cannon fodder to try to weaken Ukrainian defenses to have to care for civilians being bombed in as many cities as possible.
It's simply a ruthless military tactic Russians use regularly IIUC.
To give 'the other side', the west, Russia's enemies, recognize that this tactic very rightly allows turning public opinion against Putin, weakening HIM - including with the Russian people if we can get the information to them - and so it's both right for us to condemn him for it AND it helps weaken Putin to do so. Which is why you sometimes see enemies demonized that way even when it isn't true, but with Putin, the truth works fine.