"This war was entirely about capturing the Donbass region. Kyiv was just for shits and giggles."

Bombing people (you claim are) uninvolved in your forceful annexation is not a fucking distraction, it's a war crime and needless slaughter.

Even if this claim was true, and this was some sort of 4D chess shit, they're saying "We killed random people and ruined countless lives so we could distract their distant neighbors who we were ACTUALLY after, and we consider these tactics fine."

But of course they'd think bombing regions who are entirely uninvolved and killing civilians just to create "a distraction" would be a valid excuse… these are people with no regard for human life, after all.