this post was submitted on 04 Oct 2025
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has stated that Russia is importing petrol, calling it the rightful result of the work of the Security Service, the Armed Forces, intelligence and Ukrainian weapons manufacturers.

Quote: "Today, there were also reports on our entirely justified strikes against Russian targets – against their logistics and fuel infrastructure. I am grateful to our warriors for their precision. Russia chooses war, Russia destroys our people's lives, and must be held accountable – our long-range capabilities will increase.

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[–] TankovayaDiviziya@lemmy.world 86 points 2 days ago (41 children)

Ukraine is what the Allies have been in World War 2-- a really fucking competent leadership. It doesn't matter if the opponent has a bigger stick if he's too stupid to use it and keep missing the swings. That's what Russia is. So much for "corrupt Ukraine". No country is void of corruption, but if Ukraine is as corrupt as Russian propaganda insists they are, they wouldn't have been able to survive this long and embarrass Russia. Speaking of which, it's funny I don't see much Russian bots try to smear Ukraine anymore (maybe Putin is instead focusing on propagandising the Russians). Since Kursk and the deep drone strike campaigns in Russia, it is clear that Russia is losing the propaganda war.

Maybe Ukraine couldn't retake the areas occupied by Russia, but they could deliver a Pyrrhic blow to Kremlin. Russian international prestige already diminished as soon as they invaded.

[–] towerful@programming.dev 32 points 2 days ago (3 children)

Maybe Ukraine couldn't retake the areas occupied by Russia, but they could deliver a Pyrrhic blow to Kremlin.

They have delivered a pyrrhic victory.
Russia thought they could take Kyiv (Ukraine?) on 3 days.
The fact that Ukraine has resisted so hard, have redefined the modern battlefield, have conducted huge deep strikes...
Ukraine is winning.

The reason Ukraine may not be "winning" is because the Russian war machine is huge. Like really really big.
The reason that Ukraine is "winning" is because the Russian war machine is outdated and corrupt.

The western opinion of Russia has been devastated. Russia tested themselves, and failed.
Russia is holding on by their nukes.

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[–] phutatorius@lemmy.zip 21 points 2 days ago

(maybe Putin is instead focusing on propagandising the Russians)

Or maybe Putin decided the bot farmers were needed at the front lines as drone fodder.

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[–] bacon_pdp@lemmy.world 216 points 2 days ago (5 children)

Effectively Ukraine is doing more to help the US economy than its own Executive Branch.

[–] DarkDarkHouse@lemmy.sdf.org 96 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Did they even say thank you?

[–] phutatorius@lemmy.zip 14 points 2 days ago

I want to live to see the day where JD Vance is forced, on his hands and knees, to say thank you.

[–] betanumerus@lemmy.ca 30 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

Ukraine is a front line for the entire West. Of course it helps the US. It has taken donny 10 years to understand what anyone can read from a wiki article in less than an hour.

[–] _stranger_@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

^donny...understand

[–] rammer@sopuli.xyz 46 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Effectively Ukraine is doing more to lessen the production of petrol than any other country.

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[–] Formfiller@lemmy.world 30 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Executive branch is too busy orchestrating a genocide

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[–] Bullerfar@lemmy.world 101 points 2 days ago (38 children)

I find it really "eye opening" to watch a "small" country like Ukraine, just demolish a huge behemoth almost all on their own. Yes they got support from USA, that helped them survive a lot of the first invasion wave, where russia wasn't prepared for the resistance they were getting do to bad serveilance reportings, of the russian KGP. But after a lot of the help they are getting from their allies, they have been innovating and forcing themselves out of this.

This is the modern version of David and Goliath. Ukraine has revolutionized modern warfare completely.

[–] FerretyFever0@fedia.io 68 points 2 days ago (3 children)

It seems to be similar to the Vietnam War (besides the distances ofc). The US lost that because none of the soldiers actually cared about going to fight in Vietnam, nobody cared about winning. It might be a similar story with Russia. What stakes do the Russian people face if they lose? What does Ukraine have to lose?

[–] phutatorius@lemmy.zip 14 points 2 days ago

nobody cared about winning

That was an unwinnable war. China supported North Vietnam, with which it shared a long border. The US was fighting thousands of miles from its borders, with all the logistical problems that entailed, and was not willing or able to engage China directly in the fighting-- they had recently tried that in the Korean war and barely managed to achieve a stalemate at a high cost in lives. The South Vietnamese government was a former French colonial puppet regime that was rotten to the core, the South Vietnamese soldiers knew that and had no desire to die for those parasites or for the US's obscure objectives. The North Vietnamese soldiers had to either fight and win or be massacred by either the US or their own government. So they cared about winning, since for them it was an existential imperative. American draftees had more options than that.

But I agree that your analysis that the cost of failure to the sides in that war was massively asymmetric is indeed also applicable to Russia and Ukraine.

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[–] CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org 21 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Only finished product, right? Russia without the ability to net export crude is basically just land.

[–] fort_burp@feddit.nl 5 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Not even very good land:

Russia has been facing severe environmental issues, with the country's Natural Resources Ministry naming 35 cities and towns with dangerously high air pollution levels. The country's air pollution is largely attributed to industrial activity and vehicular traffic, with over 200 cities exceeding pollution limits. The Krasnoyarsk region has the highest air pollution level, with the city of Norilsk being the worst offender, releasing 1,787,000 tons of pollutants into the air. Other major cities like Moscow, St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, and Volgograd also experience high concentrations of air pollution. Water pollution is also a serious concern, with 75% of surface water and 50% of all water in Russia contaminated. The country's soil degradation, nuclear waste storage, and deforestation further contribute to its environmental challenges.

[–] CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org 3 points 1 day ago* (last edited 13 hours ago)

Ah, the old Soviet approach to environmentalism: that's a bunch of capitalist hogwash Ivan, just dump out the arsenic anywhere.

[–] drhodl@lemmy.world 21 points 2 days ago (2 children)

It will be fun when Ukraine starts locating and burning the imports, too :) Fuck Pootin, and fuck ruzzia. They are curse to humanity !

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[–] brucethemoose@lemmy.world 34 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Headline seems true. To quote ISW's Oct 1 report:

Gasoline shortages continue in Russia and occupied Ukraine due to repeated Ukrainian strikes on Russian oil refineries. Russian energy-focused outlet Seala told Russian state outlet RBK on September 30 that Russian oil refineries are temporarily facing a 38 percent decrease (roughly 338,000 tons per day) in their primary oil refining capacity as of September 28 due to Ukrainian drone strikes, which have struck more than two dozen major oil refineries in Russia since early August 2025.[20] Seala estimated that Russia’s total available capacity for gasoline and diesel fuel production fell by 6 percent in August 2025 and by another 18 percent in September 2025, reaching historic lows. Seala estimated that Ukrainian drone strikes caused approximately 70 percent of downtime in gasoline production as the strikes disabled approximately a quarter of Russia’s oil refining capacity (roughly 236,000 tons per day) by the end of September 2025, and that four more Russian refineries, including two of the top five largest Russian oil refineries, halted production after drone strikes. Independent Russian outlet the Moscow Times reported that the fuel crisis has impacted the Far East and occupied Crimea the hardest, where Russian authorities have banned sales of more than 30 liters of gasoline per customer since the beginning of the week (roughly September 28).[21] Crimean occupation head Sergey Aksyonov announced on October 1 a limit of 20 liters of gasoline per customer in an effort to mitigate the gasoline shortage.[22] Russian economist Vladislav Inozemtsev noted that Russian oil companies have to wait months for repairs to damaged refineries, as Western sanctions have blocked the sale of equipment and replacement parts on which Russia relies and cannot easily replace with Chinese equivalents. Russian business outlet Kommersant reported that Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak outlined to Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin on September 24 several possible means of alleviating Russia’s desperation for gas, including a zero-rate five percent import customs duty on gasoline imported from the People’s Republic of China (PRC), South Korea, and Singapore through certain checkpoints in the Far East.[23] Novak also reportedly proposed a rule that Russia will only authorize certain companies to supply fuel, which would allow Russia to export approximately 150,000 tons of gasoline from Siberian refineries westward per month to maintain supply balances in central Russia. Novak also reportedly proposed increasing gasoline imports from Belarus from 45,000 tons to 300,000 tons per month. RBK reported that Belarus began exporting gasoline to Russia in September 2025 after a pause that began in Fall 2024.[24]

Russia’s problems with oil refinery capabilities will likely persist amidst more damage to Russian oil refineries. Russian authorities and sources reported on October 1 that there was a large fire at the Yaroslavl Oil Refinery, located 700 kilometers from the Ukrainian border.[25] Yaroslavl Oblast Governor Mikhail Evraev claimed on October 1 that the incident is unrelated to a drone attack, and neither Ukrainian nor Russian sources have attributed responsibility for the fire.[26] Rostov Oblast Governor Yuriy Slyusar claimed that a Ukrainian drone strike overnight caused a fire at an industrial facility in Verkhnedonsky Raion, Rostov Oblast, and NASA FIRMS data indicates that there was a fire at the Sukhodolnaya Oil Pumping Station in Rostov Oblast.[27]

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