russia used to flex its size like it was a cheat code, now its just a giant leaky roof and ukraines got a drone for every drip. ben hodges is out here saying what every vatnik dreads: the map that saved their ass from napoleon is now just a bigger bullseye for ukrainian amazon prime. you cant cover 11 time zones with 1970s air defense and a prayer, but hey, kremlin tv says everything is under control, right up until another oil depot goes up like a birthday candle.
geography: from flex to excuse
the only thing russia’s geography is swallowing now is excuses. back in the day, being huge meant you could lose a million guys and still have enough left to build another stalin statue. now? ukraine’s sending drones 3000 km into the arctic, torching gas plants in yamal, and the only thing moscow can do is shuffle their last working pantsir from one end of the country to the other and pray nobody notices the gap. spoiler: everyone notices, especially the guys in belgorod who keep waking up to new craters.
the old “invaders freeze and die” playbook is useless when the invader is a quadcopter and the only thing freezing is the vodka in the officers club. hodges nails it: russia’s too big to defend, too broke to upgrade, and too corrupt to even try. you cant bribe a missile out of the sky, but you can sure as hell try, and im betting someone in the kremlin is already selling that contract to his cousin.
russia’s size isn’t a shield anymore, it’s a liability.
ukraine’s drone shopping spree
ukraine’s not just hitting fuel depots and logistics hubs, they’re burning down wildberries and ozon warehouses like it’s black friday for himars. these arent just amazon knockoffs, they’re the backbone of russia’s military supply chain. you cant fight a war if your body armor is stuck in a warehouse fire and your drones are backordered until 2030.
every time a russian z-blogger posts a new map, it’s just another L with extra steps. “we advanced 200 meters!” yeah, into a minefield, congrats. the only thing moving faster than the front line is the rate at which they’re running out of stuff to steal.
- fuel depots torched
- logistics hubs cratered
- wildberries and ozon warehouses lit up
- body armor and drones lost in the mail
russian “strategy”: cope and denial
lets talk about the russian military “strategy.” gerasimov’s big brain plan was to surround the “fortress belt” cities like slovyansk and kramatorsk by pushing across the oskil river. four months later, ukraine’s pushed them right back over it, and the only thing getting surrounded is the truth. russian milbloggers are finally admitting their northern flank got deleted, but the kremlin’s still pretending it’s all going to plan. sure, if the plan was to lose 19% of ukraine after 12 years and call it a win.
now the regime’s sweating over mobilization. every time putin or medvedev says “no mobilization,” you know it’s coming. it’s like when your drunk uncle says he’s not that drunk, start hiding the car keys. the kremlin’s terrified of telling the population they need another few hundred thousand bodies for the meat grinder. they’ve built the infrastructure, sent out the draft notices, run the simulations. all they need is a good excuse, maybe a nato “provocation” or a drone strike they can blame on the west. but nobody’s buying it except the guys who already bought the washing machine.
- kremlin denial on mobilization
- draft notices prepped
- waiting for a “provocation” to blame
hybrid attacks and western confusion
russia’s been poking nato with a stick for months, drone hits in germany, rockets falling in poland and romania, belarusian and russian agents trying to blow up airports. the goal isn’t to win, it’s to freak out the public and get them to pressure their governments to drop ukraine. but the only thing russia’s desensitizing is its own population to the idea that war is just a tuesday.
europe’s finally waking up, but the west still cant decide if it wants to slap russia’s wrist or just write a strongly worded letter. meanwhile, trump’s over here blaming ukraine for high diesel prices. bro, you started a war with iran, oil’s at $106 a barrel, and your base is mad at, checks notes, iran? not russia, not ukraine, just the usual scapegoat.
trump’s demanding zelensky stop hitting russian oil, but not asking putin to stop anything. the only “deal” on the table is whatever two real estate agents (vitkoff and kushner, because why not) can cook up in a backroom, and ukraine’s supposed to just take it. no ambassador in moscow, no ambassador in kyiv, just vibes and property speculation.
grift, shame, and the pentagon clown car
lets not forget the comedy gold of trump jr’s wedding, paid for by a russian oligarch who runs a “youth sports” charity that’s actually a front for kidnapping ukrainian kids. if you pay for the orchestra, you pick the music, and right now the trump family’s dancing to whatever tune the kremlin’s playing. hodges is right, there’s no shame, just a bunch of grifters cashing in while pretending it’s all normal. the only thing more embarrassing than letting a russian mobster pay for your wedding is pretending you didn’t notice.
meanwhile, the pentagon’s getting cleaned out like a black sea resort in november. generals and admirals fired for not being maga enough, or for being the wrong color, or just for knowing how to do their jobs. congress is asleep at the wheel, the secretary of defense is more interested in pushups than readiness, and the only oversight is coming from twitter threads. if you wanted to sabotage the us military, you’d do exactly what’s happening now, fire everyone who knows what they’re doing and replace them with yes-men and podcasters.
empire on fire, cope on repeat
back in russia, the only thing moving faster than the front line is the rate at which they’re running out of stuff to steal. ukraine’s not just fighting for survival, they’re giving a masterclass in how to break an empire with a handful of drones and a lot of grit. every time a russian oil plant explodes, every time a wildberries warehouse burns, it’s another reminder that size doesn’t matter if you can’t protect your own backyard. the “second army of the world” is now just a punchline with a lot of empty space and not enough air defense to cover it.
hodges is right, and the cope is real. russia’s size isn’t a shield anymore, it’s a liability. every kilometer is another headache, every new front is another place to fail. the only thing holding the regime together is propaganda and fear, and even that’s starting to crack. when your best move is to hope nobody notices the holes in your story, or your airspace, you’re not winning, you’re just stalling for time.
so yeah, russia’s big. big enough to lose everywhere at once. and ukraine’s just getting started.
russian geography is just a bigger canvas for drone art now.