How is this interesting for Hacker News? Also, 'thousands' is a small number.
One of my tech leads is in eastern Ukraine and I'm very worried about him and his family. His wife has a chronic illness and losing access to good hospitals would be devastating.
However I know the news can sensationalise things so this is why it's nice to hear personal experiences.
It often isn't called a civil war because the Kremlin uses the conflict to question the legitimacy of the current Ukrainian government.
This news is very analogous to "thousands registered to vote whatever party in the US elections".