"Liberate" is an interesting choice of term, given the communities in question aren't in Russia's sovereignty.

To be clear, I don't personally have proof of whether the citizenry is broadly thrilled about or terrified of the soldiers in their streets.

I just believe it's journalistic best practice for any case where an army taking part in a war of territorial expansion claims territory to use a neutral term like "control" rather than a biased one like "liberate" or "oppress".