Rather like the war fortifications at Ft. Howard, MD. Or their twins in Ft. Stevens, near Astoria, Oregon.
They're there, and have just been standing there, big concrete bunkers, for a century or so. But most people even in Maryland don't know they exist. The ones in Astoria are slightly better known, but not all that much.
If you look, you know. If you stumble over it, you know.
In the case of casualties, that's what happens when you stage a rebellion. And you get civilian casualties whenever you decide that your little war's going to be fought in cities and towns. That decision is primarily the responsibility of the people who are on the defense--in the Donbas, that would be the rebels, for the most part (although in some cases, like in Debal'tseve the last day or so, the Ukr forces are clearing the city and Grad fire is raining down on them ... Killing civilians, courtesy of the rebels Grad units and the presence of the rebels in the city). Few attackers say, "Oh, look, an undefended civilian area. Let's shell it." Then again, few defenders say, "Oh, look, an open field. Let's stand in it and let our asses get bombed to hell."
The Donets'k Airport looks like hell. Then again, it may have been civilian infrastructure, but it was (a) populated with soldiers and (b) devoid of civilians. So at least it was clearly an acceptable target for the rebels. Even if the artillery they used to shell it was in the Kiev region. What's unacceptable are reports like RIA Novosti had a few days ago--a children's music school was hit by artillery, oh, the pain, it must have been the target of the fascists. Of course, a few days earlier the report was that the rebels had set up a base camp 50 feet away across the street in either a police station or a former military unit garrison building, I forget which.
Thera are in both conflicts too many instances of mortars being fired from schools or public buildings. Or residential areas. Do that, and the school becomes a legitimate military target. Use weapons like Grad launchers with crappy aiming ability and it's worse.
Girkin and Borodai were firm supporters of artillery strikes and air raids that killed thousands of civilians in Grozyi because they saved Russian soldiers lives. Wiping out civilian areas wasn't a problem for him, esp. if it killed "Wahhabis". Then he sets up shop in civilian areas and suddenly every (Russian) life is sacred. As long as he's around. When he left, there were hundreds of explosive devices in Slov'yansk that sappers had to defuse. Sniper nests in apt. blocks. A school rigged to explode. A booby-trapped gorsoviet hall.
Today a twenty-something civilian was killed in Peskov, near Donets'k, by a landmine. Last week a teenage girl was killed by a landmine in western Luhansk province, miles from Donets'k. A couple of weeks before that a tractor operator plowing his field was killed by a landmine not far from the Russian border, near Chervonopartizans'k. You have one guess who's laying them. The first two were in areas recently captured by the Ukr army--with the army moving on in the next day or two to capture more territory. The third was in rebel-held territory that was in an area the Ukr forces were merely approaching.
Landmines. The weapon of choice used by progressives and those they support everywhere.
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