They like to talk about “scorched earth” and “indiscriminate shelling” being used by the Russians, but “scorched earth” is by definition what retreating armies do, not advancing ones. Ukraine are the ones retreating and shelling, bombing or mining areas behind them that they retreated from, often before the Russians even get there, just to deny Russia the economic benefit from those areas and to increase the level of destruction so that they can cry about it in their propaganda efforts in the west.

As for “indiscriminate shelling”, i don’t know what else to call it when Ukrainians keep shelling the city center of Donetsk where there are literally zero military targets. And i’m not sure that Kiev would still be as intact as it is if Russia was really interested in “indiscriminate” shelling and bombing.

All evidence i’ve seen so far indicates that every one of Russia’s precision missile strikes was aimed at military equipment stockpiles, ammo dumps, training facilities, command centers, bridges and railway installations used to transport military gear, and so on. Kiev on the other hand has already blown up or rigged with explosives tanks full of chemicals in industrial zones, tried and luckily failed to blow up a dam, mined roads and ports, and placed their heavy weapons right next to civilian buildings.