This seems extremely unethical no matter who is doing it.
You can sit there and do nothing and wait for your enemy to paint you in a bad light and the next thing you know your usual political allies are throwing money and aid at your enemy. Or you protect your citizens as best as possible by entering the game. The moral high ground may have a higher body count.
This point applies to both sides for ref. And because it's a war, the rules of fair play go out of the window until people are on trial afterwards.
Speaking of trials: U.S. lawmakers had voted to sanction ICC if it tries to prosecute citizens of the US or it's allies.
I guess it is always one rule for thee and another one for me. So much for rules based order.
It doesn't seem reasonable to me to assume that the main objective of any government is to protect its citizens.
i dont know of a single country that wouldnt do the same in their position.