> Russia did not target (initially, now they are) major essential civilian infrastructure like power plants.
Initially, Russia was planning a decapitation strike and to take Ukraine relatively whole afterwards, either by annexation or installation of a puppet regime or a mix of the two.
They started heavily hitting civilian concentration with no military value as a terror tactic pretty quickly when the swift decapitation strike bogged down, and then started hitting civilian infrastructure where the combination of attacks on military targets and terror civilian attacks didn't produce a collapse that left them in control.
If you could dispute the casualty figures or the fact that power plants were not targeted initially in Ukraine but were in Iraq you would do so. You can't so you resort to baseless accusations.
> points out that Russia did not target (initially, now they are) essential civilian infrastructure like power plants
Oh, right, they were targeting shopping malls and residential buildings... Or, you know, nuclear power plants.
> When people are confronted with this fact they typically turn to the argument that our team are pure-of-heart so their killing doesn't count.
Yes, your side is the only one that has rational individuals.
> I don't remember where or if he talked about the claim of genocide in Ukraine but there is not a "staggering amount of evidence" unless your definition of genocide is so broad as to include a large proportion of armed conflicts
So, Mariupol, Bucha... Bucha was just a massacre, there's no justification there, but let's say you want to compare Mariupol with... Fallujah? Do you have a worse US massacre in recent history? Well, yeah, the US killed people, and they should be blamed for it, but the scale doesn't even compare. Even if you take the Russian number of casualties, it's way higher in Mariupol.
>Like I said these criticisms fall apart almost immediately when you start discussing the facts.
> Russia did not target (initially, now they are) major essential civilian infrastructure like power plants
The russians targeted major essential civilian infrastructure right from the outset of the full scale invasion. This included hospitals, airports, train stations, bridges, information infrastructure, fuel facilities, etc. They also launched wave after wave of cruise missile and drone attacks on energy infrastructure all across the country from the autumn of 2022.
I would know, because I was there.
So, what you are saying here is utter horseshit.
> there is not a "staggering amount of evidence"
There is, but clearly you don't want to see it.
> unless your definition of genocide is so broad as to include a large proportion of armed conflicts.
The definition of genocide I am using is the one provided by the UN.
They did not target power plants at the outset. As you say, later they escalated and started targeting substations (which are easier to repair). This year they have escalated even further and are targeting main power plants. How do you account for this?
Contrast with Iraq where power plants (probably the most critical of civilian infrastructure) were targeted immediately.
> The definition of genocide I am using is the one provided by the UN.
Unfortunately the "whole or in part" definition is so vague that it can be interpreted to encompasses pretty much every conflict. You cannot apply the same standard and say that Ukraine is a genocide and Iraq was not.
