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In many tapped phone calls between Russian soldiers and their relatives (Russians steal UKR mobile phones, use them, SBU taps) they tell same story: how rich Ukraine is, how much they have looted, and how cool ppl lived here. Some saw asphalt and street lights for the fist time.
Many Western experts and politicians loved to repeat the story of "rich Russia and poor Ukraine". The fact is, that except of extra rich Moscow and Petersburg, Russia is an underdeveloped country, and average Ukrainian province lives much better than average Russian province.
I don't even talk about political freedoms in Ukraine like election of mayors, free press, local self-governance etc. - soldiers do not see this. Ukrainians have better roads, better lights, more money, better food, better connection with neighbour countries. This shocks Russians
They were told all the times that Ukraine is a failed state with people who work like slaves in Europe and have nothing. Now they see the reality where every gasoline station has a computer-operated coffee machine with 30 types of teas, coffee and hot chocolate, and a whisky bar.
Of course they loot the whisky bar. /END
For those who continue to ask me about asphalt. Guys, this is the main road in diamant- and gas-rich Yakutsk region. Photos of cars stuck there after rains appear regularly. I understand that Moscow can be chic and cool, and you havn't seen anything else, but Russia is not Moscow
And if you say "oh, it is far in Siberia, but this is not what happens around the capitals": this is a photo from a "Federal Highway" in Petersburg region. Please note the perfect "asphalt".
Here are photos from Russian hospitals. Note that three are from: St.Petersburg, Elektrostal (Moscow suburbia) and Kislovodsk (a regional center and a resort in rich Russian south). Source (a RUSSIAN web page): https://kaifolog.ru/russia/7724-novye-uzhasy-rossiyskih-bolnic-50-foto.html
As a former Russian, and a son of a medic, I can smell these pictures, so much they are authentic. It is a mixture of urine, chlorine, cold air, and cheap drugs. A terrible smell I need to say. A one cannot be erased from memory.
For those who say "but Russian GDP is so high!" or "but average wealth is bigger than in Ukraine!" Guys, this is Norilsk, the home of world biggest nickel producer. 177,000 ppl live in Norilsk. The owner of NorNickel Prokhorov has $11bn wealth. This makes $62,000 per person, aha.
Sorry to remind my own old joke, but literally, some Russian cities look like if Russia had "liberated" them: https://twitter.com/sumlenny/status/1495753576529936387
A recent photo: Russian army in Ukraine has looted some potato (the IFV has tactical marks of Russian army). Thank you for this photo @visegrad24
Once again. You are an 18 y.o. from the most poor villages in poor regions. You had no chance to see anything but THIS poverty (and Putin on TV). You have never traveled. Than the army takes you and sends to Ukraine. And you see those rich Ukrainians with asphalt - and hate them.
According to official data of Russian State Statistics Service "Rosstat", 22,6% of Russians lived in 2019 in houses without running water. In rural areas, it were 66,5%. Think about it: 2/3 of rural conscripts had to shit into holes all their life long: https://novayagazeta.ru/news/2019/04/02/150519-rosstat-okolo-22-6-naseleniya-rossii-zhivet-bez-dostupa-k-kanalizatsii
Out of all Russians - living in both rural AND urban areas, including chic Moscow, St. Petersburg etc., 40,9% of families who have 3 or more kids, had no running water in their house in Russia in 2019. This is the official statistics of Russian government. https://novayagazeta.ru/news/2019/04/02/150519-rosstat-okolo-22-6-naseleniya-rossii-zhivet-bez-dostupa-k-kanalizatsii
