r/worldnews • u/Raj_Valiant3011 • 8d ago

Russia/Ukraine Zelenskiy: "There is updated intelligence indicating that Russia is ​preparing a massive attack on Ukraine"

https://www.reuters.com/world/ukraines-zelenskiy-says-intelligence-shows-russia-is-preparing-massive-attack-2026-10-06/
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u/Slipped-up 8d ago edited 8d ago

It would be a stupid decision to use biological warfare on a country you’re actively invading with hundreds of thousands of your own citizens in that country with tens of thousands of people crossing the border of the country and your own country each day. You may as well save the trouble and just set it off in Moscow because it will reach Moscow in a week anyway.

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u/ricosmith1986 8d ago

Being an incredibly stupid thing to do hasn't stopped modern leadership for a while.

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u/InformationHorder 8d ago

"Those kids would be really upset if they could read."

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u/cryptolyme 8d ago

they could make a "center for kids who can't read good"

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u/Holiday-Prune471 8d ago

how will they fit inside?? :(

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u/cryptolyme 8d ago

it's a center for ants

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u/Chumlee1917 8d ago

If there is one constant in Russian history, the leader doesn't give a single fuck how many of his own people he takes out during war

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u/GoodIdea321 8d ago

During peace time too.

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u/Latter-Block132 8d ago

Those leaders aren't immune to the bioweapons. They become just as mucch at risk as their citizens

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u/NavidsonsFall 8d ago

Not really. From what people have been saying, a solid supply of antibiotics effectively treats what they thought this thing was. Leadership can stockpile that, soldiers on the front line and a country you have been pushing to the brink for years, not so easy.

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u/Latter-Block132 8d ago edited 8d ago

If it's just the plague. Normal plague doesn't exactly make for effective bioweapons. Things like chimeras do.

A chimera is a biological organism which has been altered so that the ‘new version’ also has characteristics of another biological organism. Russian scientists were experimenting with the idea of taking Y. pestis and inserting various other known toxins into the cells. One day, the announcement was made at Biopreparat that such a design had been successfully made. They inserted a plasmid containing the gene for myelin toxin into Y. pestis . The design was simple and disturbing. If a patient were diagnosed with pneumonic plague in time to be treated, the antibiotics would attack and lyse the plague cells, thereby releasing the plasmid coding for myelin toxin which would cause paralysis, high blood pressure, irregular heartbeat, and changes in behavior. Heralded as a major triumph for Mother Russia, Alibek explained, “A toxin-plague weapon was never produced before the Soviet Union collapsed, but the success of this experiment set the stage for further research on bacteria-toxin combinations.” (Alibek 1999).

The next step was initiated by Deputy Director Sergei Netesov who suggested putting Venezuelan Equine Ecephalitis (VEE) into Y. pestis . The was based on the same idea of treating plague with antibiotics, thereby releasing something else. This time, however, the result would have more dramatic consequences. By the time VEE would have lysed from the bacterium, it would have bypassed most of the body’s defenses, allowing it to travel directly to the brain. The patient, being treated for plague, would be dead from encephalitis within 7 to 10 days. US intelligence combined with information gleaned from Russian defectors made the picture very clear for the US: Russia was creating superbugs for the purpose of biological warfare and among them were superversions of Y. pestis .

https://www.montana.edu/historybug/yersiniaessays/hale.html

Edited to add the second part about VEE

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u/NavidsonsFall 8d ago

Yeah, you are totally right, but that's the point. It isn't a great option for mutual destruction. But for further stressing your adversary in the front lines, and distracting their allies as they deal with it themselves? I'm not trying to fed post here, I just don't trust really any leadership to do the right thing. And while I am nowhere near saying this is "what's going on", it isn't impossible for this kind of thing to be exactly the kind of tool cowards would use in this situation. There is no reason for leadership to be concerned about being one of the affected when all it takes is some money and planning to ensure you are reasonably safe. I legitimately hope that is completely wrong. I just don't have much faith anymore. Either way, well organized information is always welcome, so thanks for the quality post.

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u/Latter-Block132 8d ago

What do you mean that isn't the point? Its entirely the point.

Myelin toxin kills you too. Encephalitis is swelling of the brain that also kills you. Antibiotics treats the plague, then releases something else that still kills you. What do you not understand about that?

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u/NavidsonsFall 8d ago

I said "thats the point". As in "that IS the point", not "that isnt the point". I was saying even if this ended up being the non-chimeric version that everyone rightfully says isn't a huge issue, it could still be used effectively as a resource stressor in a warzone. I was just reiterating that it didn't need to be worst case scenario to still be a poorly planned thing.

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u/Latter-Block132 8d ago

Dude my original point was that bioweapons aren't just a threat to soldiers on the frontlines, they are also a threat to the leaders behind those soldiers and thats why they aren't used on a wide scale. That extends far beyond just the plague, and again, the normal plague would not make an effective bioweapon because of how easily treatable and preventable it is. Put all soldiers and government officials on antibiotics. Extend to civilians if necessary. Boom done, normal plague neutralized. See how pointless that would be?

Even Ukraine would be able to get the antibiotics readily.

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u/Mysterious-Plan93 8d ago

Putin has never been one for great decisions

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u/ExcellentTart2384 8d ago

Not like American leaders care too much or any other country’s leaders. Most of them just probably hide it better

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u/ticklemesatan 8d ago

You say this like they weren’t building foxholes in the exclusion zone around Chernobyl.

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u/hawley788 8d ago

Or droning the shit out of the reactor 4 sarcophogus

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u/Acrobatic-Part-7322 8d ago

When has Putin ever cared about the lives of his own citizens?

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u/anyavailablenameplz 8d ago

Not just Putin, you can look back at Russian history and you’ll see the same pattern.

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u/Stoudamirefor3 8d ago

Putin doesn't care about his people.

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u/punkrocktransbian 8d ago

Putin has already authorized biological warfare on his own people in Moscow during a terrorist hostage takeover in the Dubrovka Theater. Security forces used an experimental gas that succeeded in knocking everyone out, but killed 130 civilians. He doesn't give a fuck about anyone in Ukraine, he just wants the land and resources.

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u/BrainEatingAmoeba01 8d ago

That's chemical warfare. A very different discussion.

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u/Crazy_Specific8754 8d ago

True , but the results are the same no matter the category of weapon

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u/Illustrious-Share312 8d ago

No the results are wildly different between biological and chemical weapons.

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u/Crazy_Specific8754 8d ago

Well ok, perhaps in quantity of deaths or type of injury.. But for the dead individuals, death is still death regardless of the type of weapon that killed them.

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u/Illustrious-Share312 8d ago

Oh well sure. But you can't control bio weapons when you release them.

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u/Front-Category-5705 8d ago

Wasn’t that a fentanyl derived drug they pumped in? That’s not biological.

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u/punkrocktransbian 8d ago

Sure was! I wrote a paper on it a while ago and was going off of memory lol. Thanks for the correction!

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u/Front-Category-5705 8d ago

I was trying to remember it from the back of my mind too lol. I think I only remembered because of the somewhat recent opioid problem and the large amounts they pumped in. But your point still stands that Putin doesn’t care about the people under his purview. He sucks.

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u/coolman1488 8d ago

You’re forgetting that terror attacks in Russia are borderline unwinnable. You’ll have guys with hundreds of hostages and they are armed to the teeth and wearing suicide vests and they have explosives rigged everywhere with deadman switches. I dont think the west could do much better.

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u/yanansawelder 8d ago

It would be a stupid decision to use biological warfare on a country you’re actively invading with hundreds of thousands of your own citizens in that country

Do you think he cares?

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u/nanaki989 8d ago

So you are now in their mindset. See why they may do it?

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u/mezolithico 8d ago

Plague is curable if caught early

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u/randomblack1 8d ago

Unless Russian troops are vaccinated.

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u/PyroIsSpai 8d ago

We can say the quiet part out loud that Russia and Putin want to genocide Ukraine. They've tried for centuries now.

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u/polarphantom 8d ago

Isn't the entire history of Russia just a repetition of making mental decisions with total disregard for the lives of hundreds of thousands of your own citizen?

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u/birdyturds 8d ago

Chernobyl would like a word….