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Peter Todd
pete@petertodd.org
npub1ej49...ndrm
Peter Todd's avatar
Peter Todd 11 months ago
Really interesting stats from Ukraine's Unmanned System Forces (aka drones). The big one: the marginal cost to kill or seriously injure a Russian with drones is just $911 USD. I've personally spoken to quite a few soldiers at different units (units have fundraising and recruiting booths at basically every big event in Ukraine), and they all say the same thing: a remarkably high percentage of their drone funding comes from private donations. A big problem is Western military aid tends to be tied to specific weapons systems – not money – so the overall resources can't be spent optimally. Of course, it's not like the war itself costs $911/Russian casualty – there's lots of other costs and investment necessary to get there. But the fact that units are still short on drones even though relatively little investment would fix this is absurd. Also, I don't keep track. But I wouldn't be surprised if just my personal donations – anonymously with Bitcoin – have resulted in the deaths of a few Russians. You can easily make a difference.
Peter Todd's avatar
Peter Todd 11 months ago
Russians were particularly psychopathic this morning. After a long air raid with hundreds of drones they stopped. People went back home to their apartments at 3:28am. image At 4:30am, with everyone asleep, they launched a set of fast moving missiles at an apartment building to try to kill as many Ukrainians as possible – unlike the cheaper drones, missiles can get to Kyiv in just a few minutes. So far there's 11 confirmed dead, including one 6 year old child from that building. image Russian culture is just evil, and needs to be exterminated.
Peter Todd's avatar
Peter Todd 11 months ago
Two particularly impressive Ukrainian operations I found videos of lately. A very nicely done FPV ambush against a group of Russian soldiers: ...and an attack against a Russian fuel train – allegedly with long range drones – timed just right to destroy it in the middle of the central train station in Salsk, Russia: Obviously, taking out the train station as well is a great use of all that fuel; 380km from the front line.
Peter Todd's avatar
Peter Todd 11 months ago
Kyiv subway at the start of an air raid at night – likely to be a serious one as Russia is attacking with drones, which often get used against apartment buildings. Disproportionately mothers and grandmothers with small children, though there are people of all ages. This station was pretty full of people already, as it was near a bunch of apartment buildings. image I didn't get a photo of it. But all the staff were wearing ballistic vests. A very good idea as Russia has repeatedly attacked the entrances of subway stations. They put out cheap little chairs for anyone who needs them: image