askchapo

I agree with other people in the thread that arguing about Russia/Ukraine with libs is an uphill battle for a variety of reasons. Russia is the military aggressor in the conflict, they're a much bigger country and they've been played up as the villains forever, which isn't helped by the fact that post-Soviet Russia does kinda suck ass. Just avoid the topic, arguing in favor of Russia just works to discredit you in the eyes of normies.

Trying to argue that the Russian forces didn't actually commit X or Y warcrime is especially ineffective unless you can definitively prove it, which you probably can't. The way I argue is by hammering on about Israel, which is so undeniably, cartoonishly evil that most normies are no longer in denial about it. I use Israel, Western nations' continuing loyalty towards them and how blatantly our media lied about them to undermine people's faith in media narratives about other issues, including Ukraine.

Granted, you are basically never going to convince anyone over the course of one conversation. That's just not how people work. The best you can hope for is putting cracks in the foundation of their current beliefs, making them question things they never thought about before next time they watch the news. You're not gonna change their minds, but you can ensure that they'll eventually come around on their own.