Russian officials say Ukrainian drone attack damages oil refinery | VOA News

5 comments

1. 🕊 🕊 🕊

2. 👍👍👍❤

3. Yes

4. 👍👍

5. A few things about the Russian economy that are largely ignored:

   1. Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia have stopped buying Russian electricity.
   
   2. Gazprom (the Russian state energy supplier) went bankrupt 3 months ago and needed to be bailed out by the Russian government.
   
   3. Ukraine has continually been targeting Russian oil infrastructure since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. Russia has described some oil refineries as "total losses" with "irreparable damage."
   
   4. Russia has made its oil output a state secret, so that economists can't work out its true GDP with any accuracy.
   
   5. 45 European nations have agreed to tackle Russia's "shadow fleet" (used to skirt around sanctions) of old uninsured, unregistered and questionably seaworthy oil tankers, with a proposal currently sitting on the desk of the White House.
   
   6. Russian civilians in the Krasnodar region are currently protesting at electricity rationing, with many arrests taking place. The atmosphere on the streets is described by locals, as "like an unstable artillery shell, ready to explode at any moment."
   
   7. The Russian Ruble exchange rate to USD has tripled since 2014 (meaning the value of the Ruble has plunged ~66% in that time).

   Russia is slowly being starved of its oil production capacity, oil refining capacity, and the ability to export oil to foreign countries. Over 30% of Russian GDP is currently used to fund its military. 30% of GDP to fund the military is untenable for any economy to sustain, especially considering Russia's economic losses and sanctions since its invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Ukraine just needs to continue destroying Russia's military-industrial complex, while Europe and the US slowly strangle the Russian economy.

   8. Russia has lost over 3 million people, mostly young and educated, who have fled Russia, since it invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
   
   9. The Russian army has suffered over half a million dead, or severely wounded men (lost limbs, permanently paralyzed, or hospitalized long-term). These severely wounded soldiers will be a long-term burden to the Russian state, as they will never be able to work again, and will instead drain the economy through drawing disability pensions. These injured men will also depend on long-term medication and care. Family dependents such as young children may also have to be looked after by the Russian state, as they no longer have anyone to provide for them.
   
   10. Stocks of Soviet military equipment, such as tanks, personnel carriers, howitzers and other artillery pieces, are being burnt through at an alarming and unsustainable rate. Calculated on recent losses, military experts have forecast that these old Soviet pieces will all be gone by the end of 2025. Russia will then have to rely on its present military-industrial capacity, which at todays production rates will not be anywhere near enough to sustain current Russian levels of aggression.

   Ukraine Forever!