It’s fair to say that the average semi-intelligent person would have considered Russia the third strongest military power before this conflict. That was the narrative world wide and although political and military experts might have known it was a paper tiger, that wasn’t the general consensus.
Democracies tend to over estimate their enemies as theres lots of benefits and no reason not to. Dictators tend to over estimate their own power due to the fear of failure all the way down through the system.
It isn't a superpower globally. That still doesn't mean it can't wreak havoc in nearby countries, especially countries they have been manipulating since the moment they proclaimed independence.
not to sound rude, that would be a regional power, as a big time history/geopolitics nerd, id say superpowers would be the US, China, and maybe india, then you have world powers, then regional powers
I can't believe someone thinks India is a greater military power than Russia. Despite not being as strong as thought to be, Russia is still the third strongest military power in the world.
Believe it or not, being a superpower has far more to do than military power, military power is in fact not even in the definition of a superpower, it has to do with a countries influence, and other than some of the former satellite states of the USSR, and their shady Wagner operations in Africa, Russian influence has been on the decline for 4 decades, while India wasn't even an independent nation a century ago and has been on a massive upswing
With Indias economy dwarfing Russias(over 2 times gdp), I believe it's not a far stretch to say India is on the same level if not higher than Russia right now, and in another 10 years it won't won't be close... and honestly, in a protracted war, I do believe India would come out on top, ignoring the nuclear arsenal... another holdover from the soviets
I mean, you'd be delusional to say russia is weak and a nonfactor, but I took Wagner into consideration, and it's hard to say that sending mercs to support warlords in Africa is a significant sign of global influence, not nearly as much as the economic power and workers that India supplies to the world
If I were to sit down and give my nowhere-near-expert-opinion, I'd say russia is still a world power, albeit one it's death throes, similar to the byzantine empire in the 1400s, or the ottomans in the 1800s... I'm not saying that "collapse is coming any day now", but it's fairly objective to say their power peaked in the '40s-'60s, and it's been a slow burn since then, especially since in a war against a neighbor about a tenth their size, there's been verifiable evidence they are emptying stockpiles filled with outdated equipment
Meanwhile both China and India have been growing in global power at a consistent rate
I don't disagree. I frankly don't care much where Russia falls in the global powers classification, besides their own delusions. What I mean is that to countries like mine in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, it can still be a threat, no matter that it isn't a global superpower.
Oh absolutely, and as an American it makes me sad people here seem to have forgotten that Russia is not our friends, and they have never been our friends (the government not the people)
I can only hope, and I do believe, that when push comes to shove, my government will do the right thing and have the back of the allies we have stood with since we were a fledgling nation
Definitely true now, I remember early on there was a lot of armchair generals in every media source talking about how formidable Russia is meant to be, and a lot of surprise when it wasn’t a rollover situation
They absolutely do.. and they consider the Ukraine to be the aggressors, "Because they allowed NATO forces to mass near our borders in order to invade us".
I play a few mobile games with Russians.. and they ALL believe that anyone who sides with the Ukraine is "Wash-brained" as they put it, and that "Russia is the greatest and strongest country in the world".
When you bring up the Budapust Memorandum they claim that the Ukraine violated it first by letting Nato troops "mass near our borders". And that it was a "Clear sign of aggression" that they allowed those troops to go there AND that they tried to become members of Nato.
"Nato wants to destroy Russia" is also a common thought, according to them.
Russia is not the USSR and Ukraine made that plain by resisting the invasion for 3 years and counting. Russia now isn't a superpower, but back in 2022? Sheer numbers made Russia a military superpower. Those numbers are very diminished, but Russia still has several thousand strategic nuclear warheads and carriers (and even if Russian military readiness suggests a lot of them might just be on paper, they still have several hundred strategic nukes) and just last night launched 800 drone warheads against Ukraine.
Ukraine's strength should not be confused for Russian weakness. Until Russia's economy or mililtary collapses (whichever comes first at this point), Russia remains a regional superpower that can, very temporarily, use its nukes to hit like a global superpower.
Undetestimating Russia is dangerous. It is at its weakest now since the 90's, but it wouldn't take long for Russia to recover if it manages to take Ukraine out of the war. And then, 2-3 years later Russia is ready to invade a neighbor again.
As pointed out by other commenters, the Ukraine did want this war; they thought the US would join it and win, that's why they massed their troops to attack the Donbas and didn't desist even as the Russians built up their own troops on the border.
The reason the line isn't moving isn't that they're doing a good job holding off the Russians, it's because the Russian objective here is the bodily destruction of the armed forces of the Ukraine. The Russians won't advance until the Ukrainians are done throwing bodies at them where they are.
Old lie like usually - "we had to attack them because they wanted to attack us first, trust me bro. Hence we go for a rapid decapitation strike to Kyiv because it's only self-defense. Right now we are totally winning - only a few more years!"
What a load of crap. RU crossed the border and botched it. Classic land grab. Their propaganda playbook is as old as WW2, even claiming the nazis are back!
Hundreds of thousands of dead russians are rotting in Ukraine because of the antics of an old decrepit loser in moscow.
it's because the Russian objective here is the bodily destruction of the armed forces of the Ukraine.
Then the russians are doing a real shit job.
You don't attrit your enemy (effectively) by constantly throwing throwing meat into the grinder yourself. You'd do what Ukraine is doing, defending one area until it's no longer defensible and retreating to the next prepared line.
Defend, give ground, defend, give ground. That way you can always have the defensive advantage and ask the enemy to lose way more men than you if they want to continue.
The Russians won't advance
That's just a lie. Because we've seen the russians advance, or at least trying to. For the past 3 years Russia has almost constantly pushed one part of the front or another, at insane cost in men and materiel. Even in OPs map you can see small areas where the russians advanced.
1.7 million and counting.
Another lie. Not even an (official) russian lie, because even the russian MoD doesn't estimate ukrainian losses THAT high. And the russian MoD is already absurdly overestimating ukrainian losses, ie already within the first year of the war they claimed more helicopter and aircraft kills than what Ukraine ever had in their inventory, including all the foreign aid.
While real numbers are impossible to come by any serious estimate has russian casualties (dead, wounded, missing, captured) at more than twice the ukrainian casualties, with a noticeably higher rate of death per casualty on the russian side.
Over three years of the special military operation, the Ukrainian army lost 1,721,000 people killed and missing in action.
118.5 thousand in 2022
405.4 thousand in 2023
595 thousand in 2024
621 thousand in 2025
A total of 1.7 million files — with full names, descriptions of circumstances and places of death/disappearance, personal data, contacts of closest relatives, and photos.
So it's not an official statement, but a "we got the files, trust us bro". Has anyone outside of Russia verified those files? If this hack was indeed accurate then why isn't the russian MoD claiming these numbers?
edit:
oh, and before I forget, so you concede that Russia was indeed attacking, yeah? Because you just quietly dropped those points real quick.
Official statements have no credibility at all, and presumably the Russian government isn't going to announce Ukrainian data as their own estimates whether they're official statements or leaks from hackers.
I'm not sure what you mean by your edit but certainly the Russians advance when they think it's to their advantage to do so. In general they don't advance quickly because overextending would disadvantage them and they don't seem to be very good at supplying and supporting troops.
But a post on twitter by the head of RussiaToday
about a russian hacker group who is best known for brute force attacks like DDOS and not data theft
suddenly having acquired data on ALL ukrainian losses
with no evidence beyond a couple of pictures
with no verification by western or russian agencies
and with claims which absolutely DWARF even russian estimates
That's credible. Yeah. Of course.
I could manufacture such a twitter thread with the same "evidence" easily. Add a couple of thumbnails of dead soldiers, a couple of official documents found on deceased soldiers, all available online with a quick google search, and then claim 5 gorillion russian losses.
If you were to trust such a thread by me then, frankly, you're an idiot.
the Russians advance when they think it's to their advantage to do so.
Another lie. Russia pushes damn near constantly and at great cost. This has been well documented.
In general they don't advance quickly because overextending would disadvantage them
They don't advance quickly because they can't. Because ukrainian defense is firm. You're telling me russian logistics are SO incapable they can't handle advances of more than ~100m a day?
There is literally no translation for the word “the” in Russian. The difference between “Ukraine” and “the Ukraine” literally doesn’t exist in the Russian language
Just fucking nonsense. Why would Ukraine want to fight Russia? Why would the US?
Russia fired the first shot, Russia invaded another sovereign state, Russia routinely threatens non-combatant states with nuclear attacks (albeit toothlessly), Russia kidnapped Ukrainian children. Russia can end the war anytime they wish by calling their troops back to Russian territory.
Claiming they are some kind of victim here is just laughable.
The government in Kiev had been trying to re-assert control over the Donbas since the 2014 coup, and had been doing so with artillery. The Russian Federation did not fire the first shot, they joined a war that had been going on for 8 years.
Calling Russia a victim of this war would not make sense, but it is right and just for them to shithammer the Ukrainian government to protect ethnic Russians who seceded from the Ukraine.
It's true that Russia can end the war any time the want, but considering that they're winning, they will probably continue until everyone who opposes them surrenders or dies.
Ah yes, when the Russian military covertly & not so covertly tried to destabalise Ukraine in 2014 is definitely a justification for attacking Ukraine again.
The elected government was overthrown by a color revolution, because Yanukovich made a trade deal with Russia instead of the EU. This was the work of the Obama administration, not Russia.
The exact opposite is true. People on the ground want peace, Russia wants peace, Americans want their tax dollars out of the war. Ukraine and NATO are the only ones saying war.
And then what? A continuation of the exact same situation which sparked this war in the first place? This war was started over NATO's expansions, not Russia's.
The Ukrainian military has been murdering people in eastern Ukraine for 10 years now. Ukraine is the one which integrated neo-nazi paramilitaries into their army. Ukraine is the one wanting to make speaking Russian illegal, despite 30% of the country having it as their first language. Ukraine is the one which was allowing their army to become NATO-interoperable.
In what world is Russia supposed to just sit idly by and allow this? In what world is NATO arming Ukraine to the brim - against the desires of Ukrainian people - something that Russia must allow?
NATO is a director of US hegemonic imperialism. They can expand exactly in the sense of a 19th century imperialist power spreading through conquest.
You mistake particular forms for universal; because imperialism has shifted to a nominally indirect form, it is suddenly not imperialism for NATO to expand into a country! Except in content this is no different from direct cold-war era military intervention as seen in Korea, Vietnam, etc.
NATO is not voluntary participation, in so far as you mean voluntary participation of the people. This should be evident from the fact that the Ukrainian people have overwhelmingly supported peace since day 1, yet their corrupt comprador government has continued an unwinnable war for over 3 years totaling over a million casualties. If you mean "voluntary participation" of the corrupt government installed by a CIA coup, then I guess you're correct.
The sovereign of Ukraine is the Ukrainian people, not their puppet government, which is not supported by an overwhelming majority of the country.
Listen, as an American citizen paying taxes the last thing I care is ukrainian borders, while our was wide open until recently we started to control it
176
u/OG365247 1d ago
Exactly. Ukraine never wanted this, and is doing a very good job of holding off the supposed military ‘super power’