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My Ukrainian colleagues were actually back to work yesterday. It's surreal how things can be so normal and yet so different.

sillysaurusx 5y ago
I noticed that too! In livestreams on tiktok, air raid sirens are going off 24/7, explosions aren't unheard of, and yet the cities seem... normal? The streets are full of cars, and if not for the sirens, it would seem to be just another day at the office. WW2, Vietnam, and Iraq apparently biased our understanding of what a war is like. I told my Ukrainian buddy that as long as he doesn't get drafted, he'll be okay, and to stay put. I thought that every combatant was going to become either unalive or a prisoner. Their leader is a badass. https://www.reddit.com/r/Damnthatsinteresting/comments/t1pr8o/ukrainian_president_zelenskyy_after_kyiv_survived/ https://www.reddit.com/r/Damnthatsinteresting/comments/t1pr8... I told my friend, "If I were him, I'd be scared shitless." His response appears to be showing me that I'm empirically a lot more cowardly than I care to admit. They're managing to hold. Against Russia! Ukraine has internet, water, food, and their air force is intact. It's just incredible. Hats off to everyone in (or near) Ukraine who are resisting.
- vmception 5y ago
  It was the same during those other conflicts People aren’t just huddled in a subway station for 5 years Everyone has stuff to do, and react when necessary
- pjc50 5y ago
  The streets of Iraq were full of cars during the invasion and subsequent occupation, which caused a lot of incidents when skittish coalition forces shot at them for driving suspiciously, especially near checkpoints. https://www.channel4.com/news/iraq-war-files-death-at-checkpoint https://www.channel4.com/news/iraq-war-files-death-at-checkp... WW2 and Vietnam featured absolutely huge levels of mass area bombing that cannot be achieved now. The entire Russian air force is only about 1,000 aircraft: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_active_Russian_Air_Force_aircraft https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_active_Russian_Air_For... ; difficult to get figures for the buildup, but this https://www.businessinsider.com/russias-air-force-is-joining-military-forces-massing-around-ukraine-2022-2?r=US&IR=T https://www.businessinsider.com/russias-air-force-is-joining... suggests that a few hundred are within range of Ukraine (makes sense, they're not going to leave the rest of the country undefended) By comparison in WW2: > On the morning of March 18, 1,329 bombers and 733 fighters of the US Eighth Air Force formed up over England and set a course for northern Germany. The target for 1,221 of the bombers was Berlin > More than half of the bombers, 714 planes, sustained damage from German anti-aircraft fire. 16 suffered hits so severe that they had to crash land behind Soviet lines. In total, 24 bombers and six fighters were lost on the mission. 178 Americans were killed, wounded, or captured in the raid. The German Luftwaffe lost just three pilots. Also, it's like day 3 of the war, there simply hasn't been time for attrition against civilian vehicles and fuel supplies to empty the streets.

sillysaurusx 5y ago

I noticed that too! In livestreams on tiktok, air raid sirens are going off 24/7, explosions aren't unheard of, and yet the cities seem... normal? The streets are full of cars, and if not for the sirens, it would seem to be just another day at the office. WW2, Vietnam, and Iraq apparently biased our understanding of what a war is like. I told my Ukrainian buddy that as long as he doesn't get drafted, he'll be okay, and to stay put. I thought that every combatant was going to become either unalive or a prisoner. Their leader is a badass. https://www.reddit.com/r/Damnthatsinteresting/comments/t1pr8o/ukrainian_president_zelenskyy_after_kyiv_survived/ https://www.reddit.com/r/Damnthatsinteresting/comments/t1pr8... I told my friend, "If I were him, I'd be scared shitless." His response appears to be showing me that I'm empirically a lot more cowardly than I care to admit. They're managing to hold. Against Russia! Ukraine has internet, water, food, and their air force is intact. It's just incredible. Hats off to everyone in (or near) Ukraine who are resisting.

vmception 5y ago
It was the same during those other conflicts People aren’t just huddled in a subway station for 5 years Everyone has stuff to do, and react when necessary
pjc50 5y ago
The streets of Iraq were full of cars during the invasion and subsequent occupation, which caused a lot of incidents when skittish coalition forces shot at them for driving suspiciously, especially near checkpoints. https://www.channel4.com/news/iraq-war-files-death-at-checkpoint https://www.channel4.com/news/iraq-war-files-death-at-checkp... WW2 and Vietnam featured absolutely huge levels of mass area bombing that cannot be achieved now. The entire Russian air force is only about 1,000 aircraft: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_active_Russian_Air_Force_aircraft https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_active_Russian_Air_For... ; difficult to get figures for the buildup, but this https://www.businessinsider.com/russias-air-force-is-joining-military-forces-massing-around-ukraine-2022-2?r=US&IR=T https://www.businessinsider.com/russias-air-force-is-joining... suggests that a few hundred are within range of Ukraine (makes sense, they're not going to leave the rest of the country undefended) By comparison in WW2: > On the morning of March 18, 1,329 bombers and 733 fighters of the US Eighth Air Force formed up over England and set a course for northern Germany. The target for 1,221 of the bombers was Berlin > More than half of the bombers, 714 planes, sustained damage from German anti-aircraft fire. 16 suffered hits so severe that they had to crash land behind Soviet lines. In total, 24 bombers and six fighters were lost on the mission. 178 Americans were killed, wounded, or captured in the raid. The German Luftwaffe lost just three pilots. Also, it's like day 3 of the war, there simply hasn't been time for attrition against civilian vehicles and fuel supplies to empty the streets.