cross-posted from: https://lemmygrad.ml/post/265016

Squirrelled in away in the article is this little gem admitting that pro Ukrainian view was never dominant, and at this point anybody who was pro Ukrainian left Donabas

Vladimir - the Ukrainian soldier - says the local population are “30% pro-Ukrainian, 30% pro-Russian and 40% don’t care”. Of course, many pro-Ukrainian residents have now fled.

This obviously means that any sort of insurgency the west is hoping for is a non starter, and a validation of Russian position that these regions were subjugated by Ukraine against the will of the people living there.

And this is from a Ukraine soldier so you can be pretty sure if the numbers are exaggerated, they’re exaggerated for Ukraine, not Russia.