Russians have started bombing Donetsk. This finally persuaded my cousins in Donetsk to leave.
I see people on social media express confusion as to why Russia would now start bombing the city it controls, so I’ll explain.
Russia has been sending the troops from the “Donetsk People’s Republic” (a puppet regime Russians established in 2014) to fight in the worst, hottest spots of the war. They are Ukrainians, so why spare their lives? The DPR soldiers have no interest in fighting anywhere outside the Donetsk region, though. They rebel and kill the Russian commanders.
How to motivate them to go and fight? If they have nowhere to go back, if there’s nothing to live for, if their city is razed to the ground, that will motivate them. Especially if you tell them that Ukrainians destroyed Donetsk. So Russia started shelling the city.