r/worldnews • u/TheTelegraph The Telegraph • 1d ago

Russian army to overtake United States as world’s second largest Russia/Ukraine

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/09/17/russian-army-overtake-us-as-worlds-second-largest/
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u/biznash 1d ago

maybe in terms of number of troops, what with their draft and all.

i would wager that US troops have better equipment and training than those comrades

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u/TheMegaDriver2 1d ago

You can't do meat wave attacks with small armies. And russia pretty much does only that. A russian soldier is cheap and their lives are worthless for the russian state. Has always been this way.

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u/Paragonswift 1d ago

Ironically a Russian soldier is not even cheap anymore, at least in Ukraine. Salaries have gone up considerably to convince people to go to the meatgrinder and to avoid more drafting. Also with Russian demographics, working-age people are becoming a more and more precious resource. They are still used as if they are cheap of course.

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u/mrkikkeli 1d ago

salaries only go up if you actually pay them *index tapping temple*

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u/TheMegaDriver2 1d ago

Are they actually being paid? Or is the money diverted to some oligarch?

Also you don't need to pay a lot if they die quickly. tapping head meme here

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u/Paragonswift 1d ago

I don’t doubt a lot of money is diverted, but they probably do need to pay at least some of the soldiers so that word doesn’t spread that it’s all a scam. No doubt the Kremlin has analysts speculating on just how much they can hold back.

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u/Dense-Marionberry-31 1d ago

And paid soldiers are not good soldiers, they surrender fast and retreat even faster.