Trying to pain the "vast majority" of the Russian army invading Ukraine as falling for propaganda or being conscripted, and then doubling down on how they are just poor misguided souls while the war is currently going on right now, yes. That context makes it being an apologist.

Sure if you ignore the context of the thread about how it's bittersweet watching them get knocked out. Reminder bittersweet means "arousing pleasure tinged with sadness or pain".

And to be very clear I'm not dismissing their crimes. I'm simply saying most of them are human and I feel bad watching humans die. I would argue an attempt to dehumanize them makes things worse because it's ignoring why they are there in the first place and instead dismissing it to "Russians bad". They are there because a bunch of elite fascist Russians want to "revive" an empire, at the cost of hundreds of thousands of their own young men. (Not to ignore the absolutely crushing amount of Ukrainian casualties either). It's pure evil from Putin and crew.

It isn't really an easy thing to put in words. Because every Russian soldier dying is potentially a Ukrainian life saved. I'm fully aware of that and I celebrate Ukrainian victories like this. However it does sadden me that it had to be done.

Nothing positive comes from that right now in a thread that exists in a community about Ukraine discussing the current invasion of Ukraine.

Fair enough, to be honest I thought I was in combat footage when I originally posted my replies.