> i am not denying what bakhmut looks like, but are you suggesting they couldnt simply megabomb all major ukranian cities without any regard for what happens?
Pretty much, Bakhmut is mostly due to artillery then anything else, I dont think they have enough missiles to reduce all cities in Ukraine to anything like that with missiles outside of using nukes, which instantly ends the Russian federation as a country itself.
> I dont buy your motives for what russia is doing. Also, supposing you are in a war, REGARLDESS of reasons, good or bad, what would you suggest happen when there is an active conflict? Now sure, you can say(and im not arguing that this would be wrong): "russia can just not invade ukraine", and then there would be no destruction at all. Thats true, but suppose the decision has been made, as it has, even if you dont intend to destroy for the sake of destruction, things are gonna be destroyed in a conflict, would you not agree?
You could not target civilian infrastructure on purpose, something that Russia continually does.
Why else would Russia lob missiles designed by the Soviet Union to take out aircraft carriers at malls in Kyiv?.
You could try your best not imitate the Nazis during WW2 when they where blitzing the British, but Russia seems incapable of rising above anything.
> now I for one would prefer the money the state steals from me does not go to fund that destruction. I do not like to be partly funding a proxy war with russia.
It's not funding its destruction, its funding its protection, this war would have happened regardless.
This war is not a proxy war but an imperialist war of conquest by Russia, the only thing stopping Russia from raping and torturing more Ukrainian men, women and children is the aid from the west.
This is before we get to the fact that aid to Ukraine currently makes up less then 10% of the American yearly military budget and most stuff they are getting is either getting phased out our old enough that it may be expiring.
Can you think of something better your tax dollars could go towards, you know instead of protecting foreign men, women and children from being raped, tortured and murdered by a imperialist country trying to conquer them?.