Yes, in the same way that breaking up with someone is hard. But if you ghost someone you've been in a long term relationship with, you're still an *sshole.
I would say this is true most of the time, but with two caveats. A) we only have one person’s perspective on what kind of communication did or did not take place leading up to the split, and B) there are scenarios where ghosting is a byproduct of some kind of personal crisis, not just callousness.
I have no inside knowledge of this situation whatsoever, I’m just trying to be mindful that there’s only been one incomplete, emotionally-charged side of the story shared publicly. This is a case for me personally where there are too many holes in the narrative for me to feel like there was an obvious bad guy.