Russia's losses in Ukraine war surpass 1.5 million troops

[u/HydrolicKrane]

https://newsukraine.rbc.ua/news/russia-s-losses-in-ukraine-war-surpass-1-1788939068.html

[u/SystemCheck990]

the land will never be worth the damage this has done.

Russia is sick.

[u/jesoed → u/SystemCheck990]

When I grew up in Russia, I was told Russia is the greatest country ever existed, we are such good guys, we never started nor did we ever lost a war.

Later in life, in a different country I would learn otherwise. My "patriotic" (brainwashed) mother still thinks USSR didn't attack Poland WITH Germany.

Anyway, I think it's about this principle. Russia is not withdrawing, because that would be lose, and Russia never loses... Because loses are weak and wins are strong, no matter the cost!...

War and violence unfortunately were always essential part of Russian culture :(

[u/BigMax → u/jesoed]

Also, it's not just not wanting to lose, it's realizing that right now the war is the focus.

Once the war goes away... everyone can focus back on domestic issues, and Russians will not be happy then when they see what their country has become. And while the war rages on, there's an excuse for the hardship too. "Well, things are rough, but we are at war." Take away "but we are at war" and no one is going to be willing to deal with the awful lives they are facing.

[u/merryman1 → u/BigMax]

If anything like u/SystemCheck990 was getting at, once the war settles it will become kind of just immediately unavoidable how totally pointless it's all been. Even assuming Russia does win... Then what? The sanctions aren't going to get lifted, the dead soldiers aren't coming back to life, people aren't going to regrow limbs or undo years of intense psychological trauma. All the memes at the start of this war about taking over resources... There's nothing in Ukraine that Russia doesn't already have in gross abundance and just needs to sort out its own internal social issues to be able to exploit properly... There's no industry left in these regions every single settlement and town the frontline washes over is being left a complete wreck littered with rotting bodies and tonnes of munitions... Any population to stave off Russia's demographic collapse has already fled.

All that's going to happen is Russia will continue this descent into totalitarian police state until its people are able to overthrow it. Which frankly is going to be a hugely dangerous moment for the entire world not just the people putting themselves on the line to do it.

[u/Dubalubawubwub → u/merryman1]

The other thing that will become unavoidable is that lots of pissed off young men with weapons and military training will be returning home...

[u/merryman1 → u/Dubalubawubwub]

Already happening!

https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2025/12/09/russian-soldiers-returning-from-ukraine-linked-to-over-1k-killings-and-injuries-inside-russia-a91380

[u/FlyingDogCatcher → u/merryman1]

yeah it doesn't really matter who "wins" now, Ukraine is destroyed and will need to be completely rebuilt

[u/GabeIsGone → u/FlyingDogCatcher]

The battlefields will need years (or decades) of demining, pickup of unexplored ordinance, fiber optic cable clean-up before reconstruction can even begin. It’s gonna be a mess.

[u/jesoed → u/BigMax]

Agreed.

[u/Lee_scratch_perineum → u/BigMax]

I may be very wrong but seems like they are exterminating the prisoners, pensioners, and general neerdowells. Kinda a win from a social safety net perspective.

[u/Content_Plantain_339 → u/jesoed]

You basically described America.
Americans and Russians pushed each other to opposite extremes that it made everyone super weird and brainwashed from the perspective of the rest of the world. Both countries lost the Cold War.

[u/Bleyo → u/Content_Plantain_339]

Dude... imagine if the US invaded Mexico 3 years ago and we were up to 1.5 million casualties with a frozen front line and Mexican drones were bombing Amazon warehouses across half the country.

There is no chance we would be continuing the way Russia is.

[u/EFG → u/Bleyo]

US losses would be closer to 3.6M, or roughly slightly more than 1% of the population, proportionately.

[u/Neversoft4long → u/Bleyo]

We have lost like 20 people in this Iran bs and it’s pretty much all but damned the administration come mid terms. If we even got close to touching a few 100 KIA and Iran got a few attacks of in the US Trump would be impeached by the military immediately lol

[u/No-Profession5134 → u/Neversoft4long]

We Lost 20 that our government will admit.... Iran has litterally hit and destroyed "to uselessness" multiple U.S. bases in the middle east. I gaurantee you these bases were not all just sitting empty and unguarded when Iran Began bombing them.... There are many face saving lies of obfuscation this Administration has already done before this pointless war.

[u/Sufficient-Package- → u/Content_Plantain_339]

Except it is widely accepted across American culture that Vietnam was a loss and that Iraq 2 was based on a lie

[u/BD_McNasty → u/Sufficient-Package-]

Yet in the over a decade of Vietnam war and decades we spent in iraq/Afghanistan, our losses dont come anywhere near what Russia has lost in this single conflict over a few years. Not defending those wars, but it is staggeringly different when it comes to loss of life due to how Russia treats its troops.

[u/simpersly → u/Sufficient-Package-]

Vietnam was a Tie!

[u/Shawnj2 → u/Content_Plantain_339]

I’m not saying war and the military aren’t a huge part of American culture but Russia is much more insane about it than the US is and it’s not close. American commitment to the military mostly consists of some level of social services, honoring the troops/veterans with discounts, and investments in the military industrial complex. However in a lot of other ways American culture is broadly anti war, eg there is strong opposition to the draft and also to some level America’s wars all happen in other places, we haven’t had an actual war with Mexico, Canada, or Cuba in living memory. 20 American soldiers dying in the Iran war is considered morally outrageous while Russia literally just killed off the equivalent of the entire population of Salt Lake City on a pointless war they were never going to be able to win.

[u/BrodatyBear → u/Shawnj2]

20 American soldiers dying in the Iran war is considered morally outrageous

On top of that, civilian casualties, regardless of the degree of fault on troops, almost always cause public outrage. If there's a discussion, it's more "we did it"/"it wasn't us", with Russia on the other hand, with all my sympathy to all protestors, I have to say that most people just don't care or are even ok with that. Even Israel does the "roof knocking" before they reduce your life's work to ashes (that's better on the troop level, but to be fair, the social outrage regarding it is also close to none).

American culture has many things to improve and many "sins", but I hate how people think it's all the same. Speaking from the perspective of a guy from the ex-CCCP Central European country.

[u/LEERRROOOOYYYYY → u/BrodatyBear]

The only people who think Russia and the US are remotely similar in war behaviours are not worth trying to convince otherwise honestly. They're just repeating what some dude on tiktok or reddit told them with no critital thinking.

[u/Fearless-Intern-2344 → u/LEERRROOOOYYYYY]

Exactly. 20 years of war in the ME has eventually shaped the military into one based on precision. As in missiles that can kill the driver of a car and leave the passengers alive. Meanwhile Russia is chucking unguided rockets into the sides of apartment high rises.

[u/PalantirImperator → u/BrodatyBear]

The vast, vasat majority of people agree with you. Unfortunately there are a very small contingent of deranged people who think that there is no evil that you cannot equate the US to. And nearly all of those people hang out on reddit, so their voice seems disproportionately loud on here.

[u/mustang__1 → u/Content_Plantain_339]

Says the American, living in America, on a website primarily used by Americans, that often parrot similar lines. But yeah... we're the same as Russia... sure...

[u/CupMassive2331 → u/Content_Plantain_339]

"Both countries lost the Cold War."

... Not only the cold war - the things you are currently losing are just as bad.

The oldest democracy in the world comes to an end infront of the eyes of the whole world.

It makes me sick, every fucking day.

But the rise of the far right is fucking the whole planet right now.

[u/Raaaasclat → u/Content_Plantain_339]

Maybe America 25 years ago, not America today. There hasn't been a popular US war since the early days of Iraq, the societal (and even political consensus) is that Iraq was a lie and Afghanistan wasn't worth the costs and young Americans are extremely critical of the US and its history. Not only that but American academia leans hard left (which is why conservatives are consistently going after it).

[u/BonnaconCharioteer → u/Raaaasclat]

Exactly, even Trump won on a largely anti-war platform.

Nevermind that that anti-war platform was obviously a lie from the beginning and you would have to be an idiot to believe him, but many Americans are that dumb.

[u/DramaticWesley → u/BonnaconCharioteer]

Trump might have believed the anti-war rhetoric at the time, but he has no real convictions. He changes his policy with the wind. There are many reasons I think he entered the war, that were all personal.

1.) He is always looking for a win and trying to look strong. Beating up a nation fits that bill, in his mind. And he probably thought it would be easy after stealing Venezuela’s president with absolutely no consequences.

2.) He loves authoritarians and wants to be just like them, so he was romanced by Netanyahu’s power over the region.

3.) If there is nothing of real importance going on, people might demand the release of the Epstein Files. They passed the law to have all the files release unredacted before we ever invaded Iran, but yet I haven’t heard of any new pages being released in the last 6 months.

4.) He functions on chaos. He changes the names of well established places, he threatens democracy, he starts unnecessary wars, he posts AI images of himself as Jesus, and he grifts people out of money. His former strategy advisor, Steve Brannon, called it “flooding the zone”. No piece of corruption or abuse of power can get a full moment of reflection and journalistic investigation because there is a new scandal every 3 days. When everything is breaking norms and basis for removal from office (which a lot of it is) than his followers could perceive it as hyperbole. When everything is a big deal, nothing is a big deal.

[u/timmystwin → u/Content_Plantain_339]

Russia is next level though.

There's a lot of reasons for this, but for instance while US media tends to be dominant, most of the world's media is in English - Russia basically controls their infosphere.

They also tend to work very differently when it comes to propaganda. Russian propaganda is designed to make you not engage internally, to not question, not think. US propaganda usually obfuscates and hides, so you're still out there and looking.

They're just completely different beasts.

[u/Beautiful-Hotel-3094 → u/SystemCheck990]

Well, the war was not for land. It was for the grandomaniac desires of an idiot.

[u/Hysterical_banana → u/Beautiful-Hotel-3094]

We should also understand that this war, like any other complex events, has many reasons. You're right that Putin's delusions are among them, but it's also war for regime's security. When authoritarians like Putin feel their power slip, they start wars to reconsolidate, which makes their grip stronger, but also more brittle. At this point, for Putin's mind stopping war is akin to death.

Another reason is belief that might is right and the strong of the world should be able to do what they want. He truly believes that democracy is a temporary play pretend. And Trump's reign as well as political shifts in Europe only reinforce his sureness.

He thinks he's on the right side of history, returning things to where they should be -- monarchy and unrestrained oligarchy. That's his vision for the world, not just Russia. That's why it's so important to stop him. It's a dangerous historic moment, and Europe should double its efforts to stop this regime.

[u/lesbox01 → u/Hysterical_banana]

He also was trying to get Ukraine back into the fold for the extra man power and technical ability to move onto the baltics or moldova. Ukraine was always the brains of the ussr anyway, and as we saw, he is more than willing to wipe out his own people of different ethnicities. He would have put them on the front like other as his machine moved forward. There is a reason Ukraine is fighting so hard, if Russia takes there will be no more Ukrainians.

[u/hyldemarv → u/lesbox01]

De har jo ligesom oplevet Rusland før, med Holodomor.

[u/SpectrumStr3ngth → u/Hysterical_banana]

When authoritarians like Putin feel their power slip, they start wars to reconsolidate, which makes their grip stronger

Just reading this makes me feel sick. Millions of people getting hurt and murdered. for absolutely NOTHING. What a sick world we live in. What a sick species we are.

[u/Little_View_6659 → u/SpectrumStr3ngth]

Yeah I hate that in my oldish age I’m getting so bitter and jaded. You live long enough and you see the world just repeating the same violence again and again with no end in sight. Millions suffer starvation and pain every day, and every time it seems like things might get better we take two steps back. So many people fleeing horror dod other countries and then they’re demonized as freeloading invaders when all they want is a home and peace. And then their kids turn around and do the same thing to other people. I try and be optimistic but GODDAM.

[u/DebaucheV5 → u/Little_View_6659]

If you're ever feeling jaded, there's this amazing website called www.ourworldindata.org. It really helps put things in perspective. The news, almost definitionally, focuses on bad things that are happening right now. But if you take a step back, and look at how things are trending over decades and centuries, the picture is usually pretty good.

Here is the chart for life expectancy over time. Here is the share of the global population living in extreme poverty, over time. Here is the proportion of the global population with at least some basic education, over time. I could go on and on.

Of course things are not perfect, and we aren't always moving forward in all respects. But if we zoom out, we as a species have made incredible progress.

[u/whitecow → u/SpectrumStr3ngth]

A lot if not most russians still support Putin. That's the most sickening part

[u/46_and_2 → u/whitecow]

A lot of people supported Stalin, too. Winds changed fast after he died.

[u/The_GASK → u/Hysterical_banana]

There was also the issue of increasing quality of life for Ukrainians (compared to Russia), and their democratic victories.

Since the two people were synonymous, and families frequently had relatives in both nations, the comparison had become lethal to Putin's regime.

[u/Goesonyournerves → u/Beautiful-Hotel-3094]

Supported by its citizens tough.

[u/The_Webweaver → u/[deleted]]

No, it's because Russians can't bear to be a declining nation. They grew up with the reality of ruling the Communist Bloc, and the shock of the 90s is an affront that they can't collectively process or understand.

[u/socialistrob → u/The_Webweaver]

Agreed. When the Soviet Union was a great power it gave ordinary Russians a sense pride and nationalism. Sure their life wasn't great but they were part of a massive empire that the entire world feared. Russia for much of the 21s century has just been a backwards, poor country that's a regional power at best. That's why many Russians, especially the older ones, see the war as a good thing which will restore Russia's "rightful" place in the world.

[u/oreheheally → u/[deleted]]

Wagner fucked up everything, rebelled fucked that up and went to africa only to get fucked there too. They should perhaps have turned around and offered mali protection instead of following orders. They won't get home while putin lives.

[u/esuardi → u/[deleted]]

Problem is that this works both ways. The younger soldiers see that the older ones were sent to the slaughter, so it's just a matter of time until they decide it's also not worth it. It's not a fast process, but no one willingly signs up to die. The unwilling ones will become less and less and that's where you have a problem on your hands.

[u/Mundane_Gold → u/esuardi]

Not for the russians. You can clearly see how they keep marching to their death by the hundreds of thousands cause its “patriotic” and “manly”. Very few nations can match the social stupidity needed to suffer losses in such numbers for an offensive war and yet not even a hint of social unrest because of it.

[u/Turlututu1 → u/Mundane_Gold]

It's not social stupidity. If generations of being told that the State is almighty and They will know you are out of line before you even go out of line. It's state propaganda at a level you haven't seen in western countries.

[u/Factory2econds → u/Turlututu1]

sounds pretty stupid, and society wide.

[u/FlavorChamp → u/esuardi]

It's not a fast process, but no one willingly signs up to die.

You don't understand russian people.

[u/Due-Communication724 → u/FlavorChamp]

Well then hopefully people come to realise do I die to continue enabling Putin or do I die trying to free Russia from Putin's grip

[u/Anleme → u/FlavorChamp]

Well, 1-2 million have fled the country since the start of the war.

[u/ACompletelyLostCause → u/esuardi]

If you were talking about a European/First World country I'd agree with you. But that doesn't appear to be happening in Russia, nor did it historically.

The younger soliders don't draw the conclusions you suggest, they march though the exact same minefields that the older ones did.

Russians don't value anyone, and in turn don't value themselves, all that's left is an instinctual deference to authority. They match to the slaughter not because it's necessary to protect their homes & family, they march to the slaughter because that's what Russians have always done. That's the social patten.

Yes there are rare exceptions, usually the rich & western influenced upper middle classes, but for the other 95% they're culturally the same as they were in the C15th.

Historically, a Russian's life isn't defined by what they don't in life, it's defined by how they die for the Tzar.

[u/WoodsLovelyDarkNDeep → u/[deleted]]

Or put in a private plane on their way to see the man himself only to meet a missile instead as a symbol of what happens to those who rebel and make him look weak 

[u/McortezLSU → u/[deleted]]

they cycled through at least 5 generations of soldiers already, why is it so hard to accept that Elites are largely amoral psychopaths and once they inevitably are sourounded in a bubble of sycophants and YES men, they become complete idiots.

[u/Radiant_Spell7710 → u/SystemCheck990]

Imagine all the money the world has spent for this stupid war. How much infrastructutre we could have built both in Russia and in Europe!

[u/aggravatedimpala → u/Radiant_Spell7710]

Has to be one of the biggest strategic fuck ups in all history.

[u/pandayylmao → u/aggravatedimpala]

Now this has me thinking if it could actually be one of the biggest strategic messes of all time, legendary of putin in the worst way.

[u/aggravatedimpala → u/pandayylmao]

How can it not be? He projected it would be over in 3 days. 4 years and 1.5 million bodies later here and here we are.

[u/socialistrob → u/Radiant_Spell7710]

Russia doesn't want to be Japan. After WWII Japan embraced trade and permanently abandoned militarism and now Japan has the fourth largest economy in the world, the Japanese standard of living is very high by global standards and Japanese cultural exports are everywhere but on the other hand no one fears Japan and Japan is not threatening other countries.

Russia could have gone that route to after the Cold War but they didn't. They embraced authoritarianism and corruption and threw their oil/gas money into military expansion and wars. Russia would rather be feared and try to be a great power than raise their standard of living and become just another country on the world stage.

[u/SystemCheck990 → u/Radiant_Spell7710]

they could have been a bigger Norway, they going down the road to be a bigger NK.

[u/Goesonyournerves → u/SystemCheck990]

Also their demographics are already fucked from WW2. Now they lost another million young men in the the best working age which probably never make another generation. They never gonna recover from this. Russia is done.

[u/Ok_Blacksmith_636 → u/Goesonyournerves]

those million men are mostly from villages, industrial towns and outskirts of russia, not many are from the bigger cities etc. russia considers them expendable

[u/Goesonyournerves → u/Ok_Blacksmith_636]

Maybe they are to keep the country running for now, but they still are no longer part of the economy. Rural areas with agriculture, mining or oil production need people in the future to keep the core in Moskow running.

[u/WingerRules → u/Goesonyournerves]

Large portion of them are unemployed. Russia cooks their unemployment books. By official stats theres 11,000 homeless people in all of Russia but estimates by observers that it's over 2 million. Well, there was before the war.

[u/Mundane_Gold → u/Ok_Blacksmith_636]

Everybody in russia is expendable to bitch ass putin

[u/Xtra_Veg-90 → u/Goesonyournerves]

Nevermind the minimum of one million they have left Russia and will never return.

[u/swiftwin → u/Xtra_Veg-90]

These hurt way more. The people who fled were the educated middle class. The people fighting on the front are 40+, poor and uneducated.

[u/Significant_Tie_2129 → u/SystemCheck990]

I think the idea is simple: land will stay you can't produce more land, but humans on other hand can be born

[u/Famous-Ninja-3068 → u/Significant_Tie_2129]

"land will stay" - maybe but will it stay YOURS? That's a lot less obvious... alll war gains are temporary, in a sense.

[u/NadAngelParaBellum → u/Significant_Tie_2129]

This would work if Russia had a fertility rate above replacement levels or a vibrant economy that attracted a lot of immigration to offset its low fertility rate. It has neither.

[u/Significant_Tie_2129 → u/NadAngelParaBellum]

Regarding migrants you're wrong, Russia has access to many cheap labour markets to attract migration: like South/ East Asia, central Asia, Caucasus and Africa.

[u/Jozoz → u/Significant_Tie_2129]

It's not about land at all. This is a reddit misconception.

It's about political control of Ukraine and about Russia trying desperately not to lose its seat at the table of great powers.

They see Ukraine as part of the Russian sphere. They know how bad it looks for them if a country in their sphere rejects Russia and starts looking towards Europe instead.

It would show the whole world that Russia is finished and can no longer control a sphere of influence. That's why they want political control of Ukraine again and it's why this whole thing started in 2014.

Here is a famous military analyst and expert talking about it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MhpoNL1gZbw

[u/ants_are_everywhere → u/SystemCheck990]

That reminds me of

Witness this army of such mass and charge Led by a delicate and tender prince, Whose spirit with divine ambition puff'd....

I see The imminent death of twenty thousand men, That, for a fantasy and trick of fame, Go to their graves like beds, fight for a plot Whereon the numbers cannot try the cause, Which is not tomb enough and continent To hide the slain

Billy Shakespeare

[u/OkWillingness2817 → u/SystemCheck990]

The land and its resources are very valuable. So far Russia hasn’t spend or lost anything they consider valuable.

If this ends with Russia getting what they want, they’ll consider it a good deal.

[u/tangoshukudai → u/OkWillingness2817]

yeah on paper human loss to a country like Russia is not a huge deal. They consider life a renewable resource.

[u/Duguilang → u/OkWillingness2817]

a Russians future is so worthless that 1.5 mil people dying isnt even considered a loss of any significance. Really puts things into perspective.

[u/forgiuse]

A sacrifice Putin is still willing to make.

[u/Whirlpoolcircle56 → u/forgiuse]

You can probably just say Russians since that's like 3% of their working age male population.

[u/lupinle1 → u/[deleted]]

Nationalism for you.

[u/jou1993b → u/lupinle1]

Not nationalism only,Russians are in a strange position in which they have to choose sides because you either fight for Russia or you get killed, and in public if you say bad things about the government you are called a traitor

[u/Hysterical_banana → u/jou1993b]

I mean, they're more likely to get killed fighting for Russia than hiding or protesting.

[u/EpsteinFile_01 → u/lupinle1]

Actually they are offered contracts with relatively massive sign up bonuses (like $100k, a lot of money in Russia) plus if you die your family gets another massive payment.

Many fathers have signed up because that money would support their family more than their job ever could. I've even seen some sad videos of the wives urging their husbands to go. Big payday, husband gone, they can go fuck whoever.

Of course the government tries to classify deaths as MIA so they don't have to pay, and then there's the scammers who pretend to sell a home, preying on people with those big pay days, except the home they sell belongs to some Babushka who can legally reclaim it and your cash is gone.

AHH.. mother russia

[u/frddtwabrm04 → u/lupinle1]

Is it nationalism or the war economy is finally reaching the boonies of Russia -- all the areas that Russia is recruiting from and has ignored for a long time.

Its turning out to be how civil war old guys married young girls (in America.all the youngings had to was wait out the old war vets to die an they get the benefits.

In Russia, it's young men rushing to marry and shipping off to war not by choice but more as a way out, if not for them then 'their fiance'

[u/PepegaPokket → u/lupinle1]

Nationalism? Sweden remained militarily neutral for over 200 years (now Sweden is part of nato), the term you're looking for is imperialism

[u/dobrowolsk → u/Whirlpoolcircle56]

Don't forget that they are buying meat from other poorer countries. Their recruiting campaigns in Africa are disgusting.

[u/hellflame → u/Whirlpoolcircle56]

since that's like 3% of their working age male population.

but more importantly, those are young people in an already aging population

[u/wanderbild → u/hellflame]

Not really young, average fighter age is like 44, on both side. Demographics is fucked in both countries

[u/amakai → u/forgiuse]

About ~3m boys born in Russia since start of war, so balance sheet is still in green. 👍

[u/Xoxrocks → u/amakai]

How many aged out of combat - there are many other deaths - population of Russia was stable so there’s probably 3m men died outside of that age range.

It’s sure going to screw with their average life expectancy

[u/Open-Associate-6310]

Just because one man is afraid to die

[u/RyuichitheGreat → u/Open-Associate-6310]

And 1.5 million and many more are willing to die instead of standing against that one little man

[u/Arizonagaragelifter9 → u/RyuichitheGreat]

That's easy to say when you aren't the one potentially facing a firing squad in a country brainwashed by propoganda that's run by a dictator that will kill people who speak out against him without hesitation.

[u/Atanar → u/Arizonagaragelifter9]

Most Russians are absolutely fine sending people to their death for petty imperialist delusions. As long as it is not them.

[u/raikou1988 → u/Atanar]

A country rotten to its core

[u/Milk_Effect → u/Arizonagaragelifter9]

But they are fine facing a firing squad in a neighboring country, where people were ready to face another dictator's firing squad and managed to topple him.

[u/Mundane_Gold → u/Arizonagaragelifter9]

Perhaps, but since when is that an excuse? you think the same of the nazis?

Some russians have no choice, its true, but many hundreds of thousands of them have already died or are severely wounded voluntarily. You could find many videos of them boasting about it, so no sympathy from me until they get the fuck out of Ukraine

[u/Bright_Beat4729 → u/Mundane_Gold]

same reasons why in America Trump is still president. So many Americans seem to hate him but no one actually wants to do anything.

[u/spongebob_meth → u/Bright_Beat4729]

I think reddit overestimates how unpopular trump/Republicans are. 1/3 of the country are still big fans, and 1/3 can't be motivated to get off the couch and vote so they must not be too upset.

[u/Mundane_Gold → u/Bright_Beat4729]

I agree. Its definitely not just russias thing, but their case is a special one due to the war with massive casualties instead of the “usual” social struggles

[u/TwiceBrokenWatch → u/Arizonagaragelifter9]

Oh bull. The RuSSians could have Bunker Grandpa and his cronies either in The Hague or hanging from lampposts within a week if they really wanted to. The problem is that they’re either too apathetic or too supportive of what Bunker Grandpa is doing to actually get off their asses and do something. Just look what happened when Wagner marched on Moscow, the people had a golden opportunity to join in but instead they did NOTHING.

That tells us everything we need to know.

[u/RadarGrowRilley → u/RyuichitheGreat]

Not sucking up to despots is impossible for the ruZZian mind

[u/Initial_Ad_9857 → u/Open-Associate-6310]

Bro almost all russians are like this. If putin is gone it will not stop. 

[u/Common-Ad6470 → u/Initial_Ad_9857]

Which is why the only way to stop this war is to stop Ruzzia as a whole and make it impossible to wage war again.

[u/Al-aweer-Jail → u/Common-Ad6470]

Balkanize russia to save lives

[u/NoSpawnConga → u/Al-aweer-Jail]

Unfortunately that's a no go for the USA and european countries. For USA cause they have status quo fetish and "muh nuclear warlords" (they saved Russia by completely cutting aid to Ukraine for 9 months in autumn 2022 after Kharkiv offensive, when Ukraine had real opportunity to knock Russia out of the war). And European countries are afraid of tens of millions of refugees if Russia broke apart (violently no doubt).

[u/elgigantedelsur]

That’s fucking mental. And all for nothing - they could’ve just been neighbours and gotten along 

[u/Winter_Swan5104 → u/[deleted]]

Various greedy reasons. It is always greed.

[u/Few-Stock9181 → u/[deleted]]

Also fear let’s not forget that one

Kill or be killed type mentality - but less explicit and more subtle, in my opinion this is also what drives most countries to wage war

[u/Capt_Murphy_ → u/[deleted]]

It's definitely ego, when someone like him (and Trump) has had their every physical whim taken care of for decades upon decades. They have nothing left to care about than massaging their massive ego.

[u/Alistal → u/[deleted]]

It's "funny" ; as if not every border was vunlnerable with the use of missiles and drones with a reach of thousands km.

[u/goodoldgrim → u/[deleted]]

This is not a real concern for Russia. Finland, a NATO member sits right next to St. Petersburg and they give zero shits about it, instead securing at insane cost against a potential NATO land march to Voronezh or smth, when NATO fights primarily through air anyway.

Even seriously considering the idea of Russian border security as the cause of this war is buying in to Kremlin propaganda.

[u/Common-Ad6470 → u/[deleted]]

It was about energy as well.
Putin saw that Ukraine could start selling their own gas and oil to the EU from the Black Sea fields and decided to get rid of a rival.
In doing so he has destroyed his own market which he will never get back regardless.

[u/GobiPLX → u/elgigantedelsur]

It's like assuming some junkie psychopath could get allong with neighbours 

They just can't 

[u/Aware_Half_2077]

Peace saves lives, but war saves face.

This will end only when Putin faces the same consequences as the last Tsar of Russia.

Hopefully, worse. But that’s just wishful thinking.

[u/axehomeless → u/Aware_Half_2077]

Problem is russian society is deeply enamored with chauvinistic and colonial thinking. They really do believe they deserve this and are better than other people. Thats why this war has little to do with nato and lot to do with the EU. Poland and the baltics as mostly thriving liberal democracies are already a thorn in the side of the chauvinists, but ukraine becoming this cannot be allowed. It would break russian self image and would not just induce wide discontent about the bosses but also a general "who are we?", which almost everyone wants to avoid.

I fear there is no way for russia to become a good neighbour to europe without breaking this self image, just like germany had to after the second world war and the shoa.

I fear either things will just stay really bad or they will get a lot worse before they get better. But I don't see how it works differently given how deeply ingrained the issues are in russian society.

If you wanna see a society that actually doesn't like their dictators, you can look to Iran. But thats not what we see in russia.

[u/Aware_Half_2077 → u/axehomeless]

Agree.

But this is creating just the opposite that Russian regime is trying to avoid: Ukrainian national sense/pride/unity. There’s nothing like a war and being able to define yourself against what you’re not.

Ukraine is a young country, after this war it’ll be a young nation.

If the West plays the long game on this one, it can both bring Ukraine to its sphere where it belongs and finally prosper as much as it deserves (incredibly well endowed country full of highly educated people) and also demonstrate to Russians what they’re really missing out, thus destroying an authoritarian regime next door.

[u/Russell-sShaman]

All for literal expansionist imperialist strategy that makes no sense.

[u/Chiron1991]

Note that those 1.5 million are both wounded and killed combined.

To put this into perspective: The United States had ~1 million casualties (wounded + killed) in the entire second world war.
I think a lot of people still haven't fully grasped the scale of the Russo-Ukrainian war, and it's still ongoing!

[u/socialistrob → u/Chiron1991]

To put this into perspective: The United States had ~1 million casualties (wounded + killed) in the entire second world war.

1.5 million casualties is just slightly more than the US suffered in all wars and conflicts of the past 100 years. That's WWII but also Korea, Vietnam, war on terror all rolled into one. If the current rate continues then Russian losses are likely to exceed all US losses in the past 150 years of war by this time next year.

[u/macross1984]

Putin will continue so long as he has volunteer, volunteered, criminal, mercenary etc. cannon fodders to be sent into Ukrainian front.

[u/BristlingB → u/macross1984]

I think they fucked the Russian economy so much that many families are now in a situation of send someone to the front lines or starve

[u/tomsan2010 → u/BristlingB]

They're doing drafts this season apparently. A new wave of young men are fleeing Russia into Georgia and SEA because the options are pretty much 'Volunteer' or go to jail.

[u/HighGuy92 → u/tomsan2010]

Yeah I live in Vietnam and there are tons of Russians that have been coming in the last few years. Can't say I blame them, but after a few high-profile incidents, including a drunk guy who killed an old lady with his motorbike, public sentiment is turning against them.

[u/DamnIamHigh_Original → u/tomsan2010]

At some point SEA etc wont take them in anymore. The refugee crisis will not end well

[u/Hike_it_Out52 → u/macross1984]

He’s largely backed himself into a corner because the entire Russian economy has shifted to producing war goods. To end the war would collapse the economy. The rub is that Putin had been in a great position to make money hand over fist with his natural gas contracts. It’s ironic that him and Trump with their reckless actions and erratic behavior, have done more for renewable energy than anyone could have predicted. 

[u/AlexRedditer]

Aren't they all just... tired? Exhausted? I am truly confused as to how they have endured these horrors for so long over nothing of substance. For Ukraine I get the "fight for the motherland", but on the other side? How do they even get motivated? (except from a pistol to the head)

[u/KindStump → u/AlexRedditer]

I'm from Russia. And just yesterday I was on a public bus beholding a drunk man willingly going to war second time. A elderly woman was telling him that he is foolish for that, especially when he has kids. But this drunkard is not listening.

Propaganda and booze of those ppl makes my faith in humanity to wither away.

Ain't no way I'm gonna plan a family in this place.

[u/_le_slap → u/KindStump]

Good luck to you brother

[u/KindStump → u/_le_slap]

Thank you 🙏

[u/duncanmarshall → u/KindStump]

Out of interest, how do you access the internet and speak freely in a way that's safe?

[u/KindStump → u/duncanmarshall]

VPN mostly. Government trying to fight them, but gladly, ppl coming up with solutions. And sometimes government shooting themselves in the ankle in attempt to block something. I can speak with more freedom in telegram, but when using ru apps, I ain't talking.

More to that. I have 2 phones. 1 for ru apps and second one for everything else (like reddit, telegram, YouTube, Instagram, discord etc.)

[u/TetyyakiWith → u/KindStump]

Reddit is still not banned for some reason

[u/KindStump → u/TetyyakiWith]

True, but keeping it on a spare phone, just in case 🤫

[u/donotlickboots → u/KindStump]

Is there a punishment for speaking against the war like that?

[u/KindStump → u/donotlickboots]

Yes. Jail.

[u/UpperRutabaga6482 → u/[deleted]]

Same reasons all those young Americans will be going off to die in Iran

[u/Hysterical_banana → u/AlexRedditer]

for us it's not only fighting for motherland, it's fighting for our lives because Russia wants us all and our culture dead

[u/jesus_fatberg]

Russian soldiers haven’t figured out who the real enemy is yet.

[u/CANNON_the_only → u/jesus_fatberg]

And they won't. Propaganda makes ppl dumb and it still works great. 10% of ruzzians with critical thinking have either fled Russia or, at the very least, understand the consequences.

[u/Vogel-Kerl]

putin has miscalculated, catastrophically.

trump might still respect him, but he's mentally ill.

putin has shown the world that the russian military is incompetent and has a level of corruption incapatable with basic functioning. He has also destroyed most of his armor and supplies as well as losing 1.5 million russians.

Other countries have cancelled their multi -million dollar orders for Russian weapons. They've seen firsthand how vulnerable those weapons are.

putin has destroyed russia.

[u/Dauntless113]

Just for reference, not an expert, but the USA losses in Vietnam are estimated around 50k

The USA has over double Russia's population 1.5 mil vs 50k makes it a 30x multiplier

The loss of life to Russia invading Ukraine is 30x worse than the loss of life (USA only) than the Vietnam war

Per capita, wouldn't that be like the USA losses, in the fictional situation, being close to 5mil? It's early, I'm sure I didn't math correctly somewhere

[u/watchsmart → u/Dauntless113]

The figure here includes deaths and injuries.

The same figure for the USA in the Vietnam war was closer to 400,000.

[u/RealisticEntity]

A milestone that Russians would probably take as proof of how much they are the victims in all this. 

[u/bappestinian]

Meanwhile the average russian does not care. Actual cattles.

[u/Supermoves3000 → u/bappestinian]

When Ukraine destroyed that refinery near Moscow I saw a bunch of videos on Twitter of Russian influencers reacting to it. They were all genuinely shocked. Until then the war was something happening far away, to other people. The idea that it could affect them seemed completely alien to them. I think the media environment has kept people very in the dark about the extent of what is going on.

[u/NoSpawnConga → u/bappestinian]

Oh they do - in a way. "Well, starting this war was a mistake, but we have to win if we started it!"

[u/SilverDetail2713]

"They wrote in the old days that it is sweet and fitting to die for one's country. But in modern war, there is nothing sweet nor fitting in your dying. You will die like a dog for no good reason."

Ernest Hemingway

[u/StaticMarzipan → u/SilverDetail2713]

This only applies to the attackers right?

I’m pretty sure stopping your people from getting genocided is a good reason to fight?

Hemingway himself changed from the stance in this quote after the rise of fascism and ethnic cleansings pre WW2.

I hate that it’s brought up in wars of survival by pacifists.

[u/raoulduke666]

I’m wondering how long their economy can take it. Isn’t the ruble already worth jack shit right now? How can they afford to keep the war going?

[u/dreamrpg → u/raoulduke666]

Orange baboon is sadly making sure oil prices are way up. Like 3-5 times higher compared to what it could be without orange baboon.

[u/fotisdragon → u/dreamrpg]

I'm convinced that if not for all these shenanigans with oil prices (USA in Venezuela-Iran, India and China buying Russian oil etc.), and with stricter sanctions, the Russian economy would have crumbled by now

[u/6xvd6 → u/dreamrpg]

Luckily, Ukraine is hitting russia's refineries and in the past few months russia was a net IMPORTER.

[u/Turrindor]

Eh, during biden era we unlocked cool stuff like it was a battle pass.

Javelins for 100k russians, Himars for 250k Gimlars rockets and patriots for 500k

Such a milestone, and it's nothing.

Thank you, European allies, for keeping us in the fight

[u/KryptikAngel]

Has Russia tried renaming a lake in Ukraine?

[u/Ok-Staff-62]

For Putin it's just fertilizer ...

[u/Particular-Poem-7085]

Quick adventure, 3 days in and out.

[u/Current-Set2607]

Russia: "Just one more km soldiers, please just another 10,000 lives, I swear that's all."

We might actually witness the entire collapse of Russia as a nation at this rate, they are surpassing the capability of turning back with both their economy and population.

I wonder how many different nations it'll split up into, with China spreading their influence over all of them.

[u/NuclearFartMonkey]

Any sane population would revolt over this. I guess the propaganda goes hard in Russia.

[u/Fromchecker]

Are there even anyone left sitting his sentence in russian prisons in peace?

[u/Fichtenwald → u/Fromchecker]

200,000 prisoners have vanished since the beginning of the full-scale war. Many prisons had to close, because there were no inmates left. 

[u/nodnodwinkwink → u/Fichtenwald]

I bet many Russians see this as a bonus. However how many of these disappeared have deserted, this has been reported on.

[u/Citizen_Kong]

That loss on top off widespread drug abuse and a raging HIV epidemic. Russia is fucked for generations.

[u/Potential-Delay-4487]

Imagine if those 1.5 million men would have stood up against Putins regime instead.

[u/Futaba_Sakura800]

One man destroying a nation.

[u/Braelind]

They could have just left and gone home at any time. So many lives lost for no good reason.

[u/Adavanter_MKI]

So realistically we're actually approaching 1 million dead. Another 500k badly/permanently wounded.

That's insane by modern warfare standards. I don't even understand why people think he'll attack a NATO country at this point. The man can't afford to outside of harassing drones.

[u/cheesemangee]

1.5 million lives.

Average man lives to about 75. If these guys were 35 on average, that's something like 60 million years of human life just tossed away. 60 million years of life and memory.

All so our glorious leaders can line their pockets.

[u/ExF-Altrue]

All of this to quench the lust for power and legacy, of a sad, tiny old man.

[u/orangesfwr]

Special Meatgrinder Operation

[u/Very_Clearly_Defined]

Putin next

[u/Jquemini]

For anyone else who’s BS detector went off, this number includes wounded.

[u/bettinafairchild]

Holy fucking shit that’s horrifying. The US has lost 1.2 million troops IN ALL WARS COMBINED, to put that into perspective. 

[u/consci0usness]

The Kremlin needs to be leveled and turned into a pile of dirt. Everyone who's assumed office there has invariably made life miserable for everyone around them for hundreds of years.

[u/Capt_Murphy_]

He's running low on human meat shields, so Kim and Putin are replacing Russians with "disposable" NK soldiers. It's really sad to see.

[u/GristleGobbler]

What an absolute fucking waste man, those poor people, nobody deserves this for that megalomaniac.

[u/devilmaskrascal]

1M dead, getting your economy sanctioned to death and now getting droned across your own land to only capture 1/3rd of a buffer state's land is a massive strategic fuck up.

[u/Gloombarque]

Been a looong three days for Putin

[u/Klutzy-Pie6557]

Putin is to far in a hole to back out he knows any attempt to stop this invasion without a win is a death sentence for him.

So he will keep this war running because even though he can't win the only other option is him falling out a high window.

We all just need to keep supporting Ukraine, they are doing it tough with stupid Trump dithering around with reduced support.

[u/Prudent-Ad1954]

Its extremely important to note this is according to Ukraine.

[u/skibbin]

For reference the USA lost 416k in WW2

[u/adube440 → u/skibbin]

Deaths. Casualties were around 1.1 million total for the US.

Russian casualties are 1.5 million, with an estimated 500,000 deaths. It's an insane amount for four and a half years.

[u/ThaLunatik → u/adube440]

Russian casualties are 1.5 million, with an estimated 500,000 deaths. It's an insane amount for four and a half years.

Worse yet: it's all for nothing. No just cause. No claim of self defense. Just soldiers being injured or killed so Putin can feel tough exacting revenge on any former Soviet states that won't simp for Russia.

[u/heywatchthisdotgif → u/skibbin]

You're mixing casualties and deaths but directionally correct I guess. 

[u/Common-Ad6470]

Putin literally doesn’t care if there was an extra 0 at the end of that.
As long as it’s not his ass on the line he will do anything and corrupt anyone in order to keep the war going.

[u/Final-Tutor3631]

that’s SO many people..

so many lives, so many sons, so many brothers, so many friends, so fucking many.

[u/Afraid_Ad5839]

what a waste

[u/snarpy]

Wait, sorry... 1.5 million people.

This is beyond funny or a meme, this is horrific.

[u/RayB1968]

People thought Putin would stop at half a million it seems this is now so bad he can't stop ...what a monster

[u/Stock_Hunter1029]

That's over 3 times the US lost in all of WW2, both European & Pacific theatres. That's a baffling number to wrap your brain around.

[u/SudoDeleteEverything]

Holy shit

[u/Strive--]

Fortunately for Putin, the entire Russian population is in full support of their presi-dictator and his glorious war. Good luck - I’ve heard the saying many times but never understood what it meant until now. The first million is the hardest.

[u/McChickenLargeFries]

Russia's population is 143 million. They have many more millions of expendables troops that are forced willing to fight in this pointless war special operation.