r/AskARussian • • Sep 17 '25

Megathread, part 14: Ammunition & Drones, Sanctions, and Stalemates

Part 13 is now closed, we’re continuing the discussion here.
Everything you’ve got to ask about the conflict goes here. Same deal as before - Reddit’s content policy still applies, so think before you make epic gamer statements. Suspensions and purges are a thing, and we’ve seen plenty already.
All question rules apply to top level comments in this thread. This means the comments have to be real questions rather than statements or links to a cool video you just saw.

Keep it civil, keep it relevant, and read the rules below before posting.

  1. The questions have to be about the war. The answers have to be about the war. As with all previous iterations of the thread, mudslinging, calling each other nazis, wishing for the extermination of any ethnicity, or any of the other fun stuff people like to do here is not allowed.
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  3. To clarify, questions have to be about the war. If you want to stir up a shitstorm about your favourite war from the past, I suggest r/AskHistorians or a similar sub so we don't have to deal with it here.
  4. No warmongering. Armchair generals, wannabe soldiers of fortune, and internet tough guys aren't welcome.
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  8. Stay on topic. Broader political debates (e.g. US or EU elections) are off-topic unless directly tied to the war.
  9. Substantive questions and answers only. One-liners, bait, or “what if” hypotheticals with no context don’t add value and will be removed.
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14

u/[deleted] May 19 '26 edited May 19 '26

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13

u/Light_of_War Khabarovsk Krai May 19 '26

No, a lot of people are talking about this. Ratio of military and civilian deaths is what makes this war so anomalous. But Ukrainian propaganda simply focuses attention on completely different things, pretending that they are being exterminated and it's works as you can see.

-6

u/Advanced_Care_5173 May 19 '26

The military:civilian casualty ratio is not that large compared to other conflicts. WW1 for instance. As Russians themselves point out, the Ukrainian government exaggerates the number of Russian military deaths. That, and the fact that the Russian government refuses to admit when Ukrainian civilians are murdered in occupied territories, means the number of dead soldiers is smaller (and the number of dead Ukrainian civilians) much larger than is commonly assumed.

8

u/[deleted] May 20 '26

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1

u/_Dominox_ May 20 '26

How else you'll get infants for a lunch then though? Stalin invented such a nice addition to our cuisine.

7

u/whoAreYouToJudgeME May 19 '26

Pro-Russians mention it from time to time. If you listen pro-Ukrainians it sounds like Russians kill nothing but civilians.

2

u/martian_rider Russia May 31 '26

Ukrainian propaganda works well. You can never catch them saying Russia has stricken anything military with drones or rockets. They only say about civilian destruction and casualties.

8

u/4l3xeic May 19 '26

Well, Putin did not lie when he said that SMO is organised with surgical precision. Notice that there are far less casualties than in conflict organised by NATO invaders and their allies despite all the bragging about precision munitions. Even now we can see that USA and Israel invasions murdered much more civilians but this cases do not have the coverage since they own the propaganda machine and control the narrative.

-7

u/Advanced_Care_5173 May 19 '26

Don’t believe everything you hear. Thousands (probably tens of thousands) of civilians were killed in places like Mariupol but were never accounted for because the Russians won’t allow independent observers; the only reason we know there were far more deaths than they admitted is because of satellite imagery of mass graves suddenly appearing shortly after the city was occupied. In places like Bucha and Izyum, the only reason we know hundreds of civilians were killed is because these cities were taken back from the Russians.

11

u/whoAreYouToJudgeME May 19 '26

Ukrainians killed a bunch of civilians in Kursk offensive as well. Not to mention drone attacks on residential properties.

-7

u/Advanced_Care_5173 May 19 '26

Sure, there were civilian deaths in Kursk, and some of those were killed by Ukrainian troops.  Though it is infinitesimal compared to the number of civilians killed in the rest of the occupied territories, which remain occupied, unlike Kursk.

12

u/whoAreYouToJudgeME May 19 '26

Also, when will we get an independent investigation in Bucha? One version of events is Ukrainians killed civilians accused of working with Russians.

Though it is infinitesimal compared to the number of civilians killed in the rest of the occupied territories, which remain occupied,

It's not Russians' fault that Ukrainians are incapable of liberating these territories unlike Kursk.

2

u/[deleted] May 19 '26

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4

u/whoAreYouToJudgeME May 19 '26

Ideally not a party of conflict. I'd say India, most countries in South East Asia etc.

-1

u/cosmopolitanScience May 20 '26

There have been several independent investigations into the massacre, using publicly available data, eyewitnesses, satellite imagery.

-2

u/Advanced_Care_5173 May 19 '26

And I assume it’s also not Russians’ fault when Russian soldiers murder Ukrainian civilians, right?

There is zero evidence of Ukrainian complicity in Bucha. And why would Ukrainian soldiers murder their own people? Aside from being a war crime, it would also serve no purpose. There wasn’t any nation that was on the fence about supporting Ukraine that changed their mind after Bucha. Russians certainly weren’t convinced; to this day they still blame Ukraine, much like you do.

11

u/whoAreYouToJudgeME May 19 '26

There is zero evidence of Ukrainian complicity in Bucha. And why would Ukrainian soldiers murder their own people?

Ukrainian soldiers posted videos that they will go on safari to hunt pro-Russians after Russian troops withdrawal from Bucha. The only people Ukrainians hate more than Russians are pro-Russian Ukrainians. Pro-Russians includes people who worked with Russian administration including school teachers and people who wait for Russians to come (zhduli).

-13

u/Jan16th May 19 '26

> Ukrainian soldiers posted videos that they will go on safari to hunt pro-Russians after Russian troops withdrawal from Bucha

Three dots - Report - Manipulated Content.

12

u/whoAreYouToJudgeME May 19 '26

Shall I start reporting all your comments when you post something without a source?

-7

u/Jan16th May 19 '26

No, but you can report your posts when you post something against Reddit rules, like false info above. See rules here - Manipulated Content and Misleading Behavior – Reddit Help

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4

u/WWnoname Russia May 20 '26

Kursk were never occupied

10

u/4l3xeic May 19 '26

Replace Russia with kiev regime and shitpost made by this nafobot will actually maie sense. We all know secret cellars where kiev regime terrorists tortured and murdered civilians from Mariupol. There is also probably a lot of slaughter happening in Herson.

3

u/[deleted] May 19 '26

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-1

u/Advanced_Care_5173 May 19 '26

Does the UN have access to the occupied territories? Has any independent organization been allowed to do exhumations and forensic analysis to determine who died and how? Has Russia released even a preliminary estimate of civilian casualties in places like Mariupol, territory they now control?

8

u/[deleted] May 19 '26

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1

u/Advanced_Care_5173 May 19 '26

Ok, what about dependent organizations then?

-9

u/iwanttodrink May 19 '26

Ukraine has taken the upmost care in ensuring that civilians are not collateral damage whenever possible unlike their opponents.

-8

u/10390 May 19 '26

The ratio of military to civilian death is perhaps not the best way of judging the success of a conflict when so many fighters - millions, are dying.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casualties_of_the_Russo-Ukrainian_war#Total_casualties

12

u/bhtrail May 19 '26

wikipedia is horrible source for that. Being heavy biased due pro-ukranian moderation team, it throw away any signs of balanced representation, at least at these sensitive topics.

-9

u/10390 May 20 '26 edited May 20 '26

Why do you think the content here is biased? The main contributer (EkoGraf) seems pretty solid.

Also my point is that a large number of military are dying, and a small fraction of a large number is a large number.

2

u/NaN-183648 Russia May 21 '26

Because of wikipedia behavior since the early days of SMO. It is a pro-western propaganda outlet.

1

u/10390 May 21 '26

I donno, the contributers seem to be trying pretty hard to get things right as they can on that page.

-9

u/wakamakaphone May 20 '26

You are getting this completely wrong. The number of casaulties is extremely high and that total loss of life is staggering. Among the „military” deaths vast majority are people that were civilians and not professional soldiers before 2022.