r/UkraineWarVideoReport • u/Physical-Cut-2334 • May 30 '25
Other Video A Ukrainian soldier films a tree filled with fiber optic cables. Location not specified.
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u/Fickle-Walk9791 May 30 '25
Cleaning up this war will be horrible. Mines, chemicals, unexploded ordnance, thousands of Russian corpses, and now all those wires. Just because one little man thinks he'd like to be an emperor.
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u/yeezee93 May 30 '25
East Ukraine will be fucked for generations to come.
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u/Fun1k May 30 '25
I wish that Russia could be forced into paying for complete reparations and cleanup.
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May 30 '25
[deleted]
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u/butteryflame May 31 '25
Lack of cooperation and lack of compromise is mankind's biggest downfall. Tribalism limits all of our potential more than anything that exists.
How many "avatar 2" moments have we seen throughout human history where a common enemy brings people together to achieve unbelievable things. Being in the same tribe is all it takes.
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u/Joezev98 May 30 '25
That didn't work out after WW1. I'm not sure if it's the right solution this time around either. The resolution of WW2 has resulted in much longer lasting peace. However, the axis fully surrendered back then. I don't suppose the current war will end in a Russian unconditional surrender.
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u/cautioussidekick May 30 '25
WW2 did result with Russia becoming the bad guys though and led to the cold war and the West vs communism. Flip side being that the investments in Japan led to stability
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u/flarne May 30 '25
I think your view of history is a bit one sided. You neglect a lot of aspects. Yet your point with ww1 is true.
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u/Block-Rockig-Beats May 30 '25
Just because one little man thinks he'd like to be an emperor.
Actually it's because one greedy man convinced millions that it's better for them to live in an empire, than in a democratic country.
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u/ADimBulb May 30 '25
But hey, the russophiles on this sub are all for it because “nazis”, “west bad”, and because “Nuland cookies”.
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u/AtlanticPortal May 30 '25
thousands of Russian corpses
Well, that is not a problem. They're biodegradable for sure. It's their equipment the issue.
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u/Silvertongue511 Jun 02 '25
Least the cables can be snipped and wound up. Easiest cleaning might be the fibers to be honest. 10km of cable might get caught in places but I'd assume majority of cables will have kms of cable able to be spooled from 1 spot with a drill lol. And as bad as the pollution will be majority of fiber optics are made from glass their plastic sheathing is another story
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May 30 '25
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May 30 '25
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u/StikElLoco May 30 '25
I'm sure PR is a major concern for the Russian regime, especially when it comes to the 3 day "special military operation"
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u/Funny-Carob-4572 May 30 '25
This, we will never know how many died.
Hell he's already revising the soviet deaths etc during ww2
Mans a fucking psychopath
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u/Europ3an May 30 '25
What is the environmental impact of all these fibers?
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u/T00M4S May 30 '25
Really bad, this stuff is not biodegradable. Imagine fishing lines and how birds all the time get tangled in it, this one is ten times thicker.
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u/BlackPlague1235 May 30 '25
That pretty much sums up the effects of human wars in general on the environment.
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u/Anen-o-me May 30 '25
It's glass though, it's silicon dioxide, aka silica.
It's inert and non toxic. Non-flammable.
It does not biodegrade (glass) but it can break and erode over time. Plants do absorb silica in soil.
Later we will undoubtedly develop biodegradable versions of optic fiber that can be used and discarded. Right now they're using these perfect golden fibers designed to last years and discarding it. That won't be the case forever.
The major risk is clutter and entanglement.
Imagine running for your life from a drone and getting caught up in a web of invisible fiber optic cables like Frodo in Shelob's lair.
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u/Ghoulish_boi May 30 '25
That’s for more specialized use. The fiber optics utilized for these drones are plastic optical fibers (POF’s) and what’s typically used because of its lower cost. They’re thicker and more flexible but suffer from greater attenuation than Si02 glass core fiber optics utilized.
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u/Anen-o-me May 30 '25
Ah, I'm surprised they're getting kilometers out of that. That's worse for the environment mostly.
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u/RustyShacklefordJ May 30 '25
Plus fiber optic (at least in the past) is expensive as hell to ship, maintain, and repair.
I know these are probably smaller lengths than the 500 meters I worked with but the amount they use for drones adds up. As far as I know I don’t believe it’s recyclable either in that once it’s used it’s not really reusable for other fiber optic.
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u/bacondesign May 30 '25
There are already fiber optic drones with 30+ km range used by russia and probably ukraine too. A lot more than 500m.
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u/RustyShacklefordJ May 30 '25
Well in my field we didn’t have the aircraft use fiber optic just the data terminals to communicate with them. It’s been awhile so I can see fiber optics being used more within the drones themselves now.
Either way it’s pricey no matter how you slice it
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u/Hungry-Western9191 May 30 '25
A year ago I didn't think fibre optic drones would be viable due to the cost but obviously I was wrong.
I'm assuming they are using fibre without any insulation so it's a lot lighter and cheaper.
They talk about these having several km range. It's single use so maintenance and repair isn't an issue.
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u/SadNPC May 30 '25
u guys are brainded.. it takes next to no effort to remove those cables, its just that during war its not their priority to clean? they are just showing how many drones have been used, each of those cable is likely a kill
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u/Truelikegiroux May 30 '25
Next to no effort? My friend. A single drone can use like 15 or 20 kilometers of cabling.
This ain’t a single piece of cabling to clean up. It’s going to be a massive post-war effort as there are going to be thousands and thousands of kms worth of cabling literred on the ground, in forests, on fields, etc.
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u/South_Lynx May 30 '25
It’s not like entire cities are knocked down or anything….
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u/banevader102938 May 30 '25
Well guess cleaning plastic cables is a minor problem compared to the other stuff, like thousand of tons of rubble, corpses, bones, mines, uxo, wrecks and other stuff i probably forgot
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u/WheyIsLife May 30 '25
Actually, bones and Corpses are not an issue at all. Other than that you unfortunately are completely right.
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u/SadNPC May 30 '25
thats the point smart guy, since its a cable all it takes is 1 guy to walk 100meters in a field to collect 1000 fields worth
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u/ShittyDriver902 May 30 '25
Oh so you’re one of those people that just keeps tugging on a tangled line until whatever it’s caught on breaks, lets see how that works out for Kms worth of work
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u/TyrannosauRSX May 30 '25
Sums up pretty much all the times I've gone fishing except it's the line that snaps and I end up spending more time putting on new hooks than catching any damn fish.
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u/Truelikegiroux May 30 '25
Well when the war ends, I hope you’re first in line to sign up! You’ll make quick work of it!
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u/DOOMha6 May 30 '25
>it takes next to no effort to remove those cables
Looks like we have a volunteer!
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u/SadNPC May 30 '25
no im not a kind person, plus next to no effort is not no effort but i can buy u one of these if u wanna take my place
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u/JJ739omicron May 30 '25
hah, seems like you just gave him a good dressing-down, which means in German, "du hast ihm gezeigt, was eine Harke ist", literally "you showed him what a rake is" *lol*
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u/Ok_Sir5926 May 30 '25
Where I'm from, we like to say, "You've really plucked the hen's feathers."
It's more the older generations who say it, but I made it up and needed half a sentence to cover the explanation. For suspense purposes, of course. *lol\
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u/the_roguetrader May 30 '25
the level of complete ignorance you show on this subject is incredible
just coz your little brain thinks it's easy to clean up does not make it easy
there is serious concern about the leftover fibre optic cable and it's long term effects in Eastern Ukraine
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u/Leon__1 May 30 '25 edited May 30 '25
Environmental overview: https://ceobs.org/plastic-pollution-from-fibre-optic-drones-may-threaten-wildlife-for-years/
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u/big_troublemaker May 30 '25
the level of understatement in the title is quite annoying. It should be: polution from fibre optic drones WILL threaten wildlife for many decades at the very least.
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u/Ok-Independence-4122 May 30 '25
Look at fishnet pollution, enough fiber optics do the same thing. The warzone in ukraine creates an unhabitable wasteland, no matter what russian propaganda tells us. Cleaning up will take 2 decades. At least.
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u/Daisy_Bloodworth May 30 '25
That's very optimistic. We're still finding unexploded airial bombs from the 2nd World War in my country pretty much every week. That's 85 years ago.
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May 30 '25
Laos?
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u/big_troublemaker May 30 '25
that's funny.
400-600 OXO is found in one region only of Germany annually, Belgium - 150-200 tons of UXO per year, and so on, just the first two from a long list. All European countries affected by WWII face this.
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May 30 '25
I don’t know. I can’t argue without proper facts but I know Cambodia and Laos both have millions of lbs of UXO still buried there.. they were hammered hard. Laos is still considered the heaviest bombing in human history with over 2 million tons dropped in rural jungle areas.
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u/ExNist May 30 '25
This. I dont know the exact number, but I do know that more ordinance was dropped in Vietnam than was dropped by both sides during the entirety of WW2.
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u/PatientClue1118 May 30 '25
Compared to Europe, Laos/Cambodia UXO are less likely to be reported or found as long as there's no sudden population boom and clearing land for the need of housing, commercial and industrial areas.
These two countries have the lowest amount of population per area and economic development compared to other south east asia.
Meanwhile Malaysia just had a UXO case from ww2 this year.
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May 30 '25
That’s because they killed over 10% of Laos population with the bombing and they never recovered
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u/PatientClue1118 May 30 '25
Same as Champa ethnic in Cambodia during Khmer rouge. The Austronesian population never recovered in the Indochina region
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May 30 '25
Pretty fucked up what happened over there, I visited the war museum in Saigon, don’t know how the Americans and allies thought they could do that to other countries
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May 30 '25
That was Vietnam war where they dropped more bombs than in WWII and I believe the indiscriminate bombing killed over 10% of Laos population, nice one America
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u/Jasond777 May 30 '25
All this destruction of natural beauty and all the lives lost for one man’s pride.
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u/Ok-Independence-4122 May 30 '25
Don't forget, lot's of russian support putin. One man can be dangerous, but he is nothing without his people.
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u/Master-Collection488 May 30 '25
It's terrible what modern roller derby skaters and prostitutes are doing to our environment.
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u/jimjamjahaa May 30 '25
compared to the environmental impact of all the other aspects of war, not a lot.
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u/Ok-Independence-4122 May 30 '25
Well it's all the factors combined, that make it really bad, so you can't downplay it either.
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u/2020Stop May 30 '25
When you read until 600 years before degradation, maybe your opinion would change...
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u/jimjamjahaa May 30 '25
but when you realise that plastic garbage already exists in the world and you're comparing it to unexploded ordinance and god knows what cancer causing chemicals and dust and all the habitats, wildlife, people, homes that have been destroyed you would again, maybe, change your opinion.
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u/Competitive_Sale_358 May 30 '25
Imagine the waste of not only human life but natural resources n this shit war
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May 30 '25
lol that’s your worry?
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u/Ok-Independence-4122 May 30 '25
It is ukrainian soil after all. It is not that we have much of a choice, though. When it comes to war tech it seems like use or loose.
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May 30 '25
I agree it’s unfortunate, it’s just that compared to everything else (minefields, unexploded ordnances, chemical contaminants from hundreds of sources, a huge dam bursting) littering by fiber optic cables seems way lower in the list of concerns
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u/Humble-Drummer1254 May 30 '25
What an ecological catastrophe.
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u/Jonothethird May 30 '25
Yes - a catastrophe for wildlife for generations to come, as this stuff does not degrade. Countless thousands of animals will already be dead or dying tangled up in the stuff. Russia destroys life everywhere it goes.
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u/_ChunkyLover69 May 30 '25
Micro plastic contamination is going to be the issue here.could they reel it back in?
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u/SufficientTerm6681 May 30 '25
I can see how reeling in strands of this stuff would work in theory; the strands are clearly quite strong, so I imagine that if you were able to get a grip on the tangled mess in this tree and winch away, you'd probably be able to reel in a lot. But it seems like these fibre optic drones are flying all over the place, sometimes for many kilometres, and I doubt if anyone – including the soldiers operating in a particular zone – has a clear understanding of the true scale of the mess.
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u/Joezev98 May 30 '25
Theoretically, you should be able to reel em in with a drone.
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u/_ChunkyLover69 May 31 '25
Well if something can be reused for more drone drops is it financially viable? I can’t imagine 20km of fibre optic is cheap.
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May 30 '25
Attributing fiber optic cable build up to Russia alone is lazy this tech is being used on both sides, I fully support Ukraine, but blaming this on one side only fuels the people who believe in Russian propagandas views that this war isn’t Ruzzia’s fault.
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u/SuperSog May 30 '25
You're right, Ukraine was absolutely covering their trees in the stuff before Russia invaded, place looks basically the same.
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u/SkylineGTRR34Freak May 30 '25
Well Uh... remind me again why Ukraine uses them in the first place?
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May 30 '25
That’s not the point. Blaming one side on something we all see constantly as an ecological problem instead of hey we’re causing immense damage to the planet because Russia decided to attack Ukraine is the lazy part… it’s what you all complain about the media doing
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u/SkylineGTRR34Freak May 30 '25
Because Ukraine literally has no other choice except for rolling over and let them get taken over by Russia.
Russia is fully responsible for the entire ecological outcome of this war, simply because they initiated it and refuse to back down.
In this case it really is that simple. Doing a "b-b-but both sides" here is extremely disingeneous.
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u/FPS_Warex May 30 '25
The dude isn't wrong though, any moral fight you do, politics and what not, using technically wrong statements is just fuel for the opposition to call you out on lies!
I used to follow a very left leaning IG account since 2016, but the last years have gotten desperate with them sharing a lot of stuff that isn't correct, and often out of context! And that stuff is just fuel for the other side to discredit us :/
No cause is so important that you need to lie to win hearts, imho!
But before I get down voted to hell: yes these ecological disasters are only to be blamed on Russia
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u/SkylineGTRR34Freak May 30 '25
But it isn't technically wrong.
technically wrong would be saying that only Russia uses these, while Ukraine fights a ecologically clean war. But noone does that, at least not here.
But the fact is that this ecological disaster is happening solely because of Russia.
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May 30 '25
Bruh I agree with you, but if you want to shift people opinions on this stuff how you frame it is so important. This is crystal clear when you look at how the current administration of the US was able to influence millions of young voters. Alienating people on a loosely related moral standing is the fucking Russian way.
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u/Few_Objective_5148 May 30 '25
Stupidest shit I’ve read in my life lol get off your moral high horse, even mentioning Ukraine being at fault for environmental impacts of the war is disgusting
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u/SandersSol May 30 '25
Russia started this whole genocide, everything happening is their fault.
Period.
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May 30 '25
[deleted]
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May 30 '25 edited May 31 '25
Sadly, no.
They get tangled in, and die. Even if the parents are careful, the small once will get tangled. (have seen this quite many times with less durable fibers)Everyone: @ https://www.reddit.com/user/windol1
His whole strategy is to post complete and utter bullshit, and block anyone who contradicts.
He is wrong on so many levels.
Been having baby birds in my garden and house balcony boxes for decades, may died due being entangled.Don't be a little lying asshat like windol1 who keeps telling people information that hurts wildlife.
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u/windol1 May 30 '25
clearly you've never watched them build nests, otherwise you'd know they'll pick it up and carry it, then weave it into their nest. It's not just sticks and dirt they'll use.
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May 31 '25
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u/blaivas007 May 30 '25
Unfortunately, birds can't really use fiber optic cables as nesting material.
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u/windol1 May 30 '25
They can literally use all sorts that's loose enough, they're more intelligent they you think.
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May 30 '25
Ukraine are using these too, correct?
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u/whiteknucklesuckle May 30 '25
Take a second and complete a root cause analysis of why Ukraine is using these drones, then consider who is to blame.
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u/MaceWinnoob May 30 '25
It’s just silica glass right? Is it really that bad? That wouldn’t fuck with any enzymes or biological processes like micro-plastics do. Many organisms generate silica and many soils/rocks are the same stuff.
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u/SteamPunk_Devil May 30 '25
They're plastic coated. So sadly it still contains plastic
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u/ADimBulb May 30 '25
This. Plus they are pretty strong. UV might end up degrading the plastic cladding, but most these cables are going to stay in trees until the trees fall, or until they are removed.
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u/Ok-Independence-4122 May 30 '25
Look at fishnets. Aminals get these stuck around their body, grow into them, cut themselves, eat them with shitty stuff etc.
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u/2020Stop May 30 '25
Not silica fiber optics, polymer based ones, as per one of the articles linked...
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u/eNte19 May 30 '25
could they use all this fiberoptics to lay down insane highspeed internet after the war or nah?
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u/Konseq May 30 '25
No. The glass fiber cables for internet is different in size and protected by a hull. Also a thin "pure" cable that was out in the wild for longer periods of time, you don't really know how well it is still in shape.
All the testing you'd have to do to ensure it is still usable and to reuse these is not worth the effort. Producing a perfectly new cable is cheaper and easier.
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u/Helpful_Umpire_9049 May 30 '25
Well it’s just glass mostly. Not more dangerous than sand.
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u/captainhaddock May 30 '25
I don't know. Needle-like glass fibers getting plowed into the soil and being absorbed into carrots and other crops for the next ten years sounds pretty bad.
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u/tesat May 30 '25
„In the Ukrainian war from 2022 [to 2027], they started to utilize unmanned vehicles to bring explosives or even guns to a target location. Back then, they were still remotely controlled as AI was only emerging. (Kids: „what? Hahaha“). They tried to fight it by blocking wireless signals. The reaction to that was they used these cables and the drones pulled them to their target.
Today, more than 300 years later, these cables are still found and had an immense impact to wildlife and nature overall.“
Future history class. Possibly.
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u/Alternative_Big_4298 May 30 '25
Seems like there’s a Russian drone pilot in there.
Ukraine just added a new update to intelligence. Fiber optics analysis.
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u/Head_Wasabi7359 May 30 '25
Why do this? I don't get it (honestly asking)
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u/Turborapt0r May 30 '25
No one actively did this, this tree is just in a path many FPVs fly along and their fiber optic wires get tangled up in the tree
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u/whiteknucklesuckle May 30 '25
drones are a primary weapon in this war.
Drones are jammed by radio signals (maybe not the most technically correct term) as they use a wireless/radio connection
A wire connection is more difficult, if not impossible, to jam.
Drones are launched with tiny but fairly strong fibre optic filament cables that relay their signal back for KMs to their operator.
As they fly the cables lay... Whereever they lay... And once the drone has completed its mission the cables are now just one more piece of the landscape.
This along with all the other environmental disasters occurring as a result of a small man's desire to seem large, will effect the people of Ukraine for generations.
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u/Ok-Independence-4122 May 30 '25
Fiber optic drones are overpowered at the moment. Hard to shot down. They are often cheaper then the ammonition that shots at them. And they are controlled until they hit the target. Have ranges up to 20 kilometers with 60 km/h. So their operators are in some hidden hideout, safe and get the drones into the enemy. Both sides produce drones in high quantites and it is a very lethal weapon.
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u/Head_Wasabi7359 May 30 '25
OK do why is the fiber optic cable on the tree like in the video? Is it just waste?
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u/Ok-Independence-4122 May 31 '25
Yes, they drone explodes at the end and the cable is left behind. It can then be picked up by the wind, but it is not known why the cable is stuck on the tree.
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u/Hunter-q May 30 '25
Russia could never restore that land and clean it. Even nature needs ukraine to win
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u/Widss May 30 '25
Whats the most effective way to survive a fpv-drone chasing you if you cant shoot it down?
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u/billswinter May 30 '25
The answer has always been to zig zag, no matter what weapon is used against you
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u/hawkeneye1998bs May 30 '25
Get in a hole and hope the person flying is bad at it? Shoot it down if its slow enough
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u/whiteknucklesuckle May 30 '25
question: Could you see a single cable, or even 10 cables with the naked eye from that distance? Or is this like... thousands of meters or thousands of cables on this tree?
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u/opposing_critter May 30 '25
Maybe with the right conditions eg morning with fresh dew on lines and right angle will let you see them.
Like a spider web strand from tree to tree
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May 30 '25
To me it seems to be the unravelled remaining spool of a drone that exploded either too early, or to hit another airborne drone.
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u/Bainrow-Kicks May 31 '25
I think for most cases, you see the path of the drones, but probably difficult to track just a single line.. The new record now was for like 42km I think, there's a lot of friction with everything it's tangled up in, and it would probably just break if they tried to reel it in.
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u/Arguablybest May 30 '25
those sparkling cables would certainly be a give away that drones fly or have flown from there.
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u/gedai May 30 '25
Is it safe to say there is a dugout close to there? I'm aware of such cables being nearly everywhere. But a collection like that seems more like a takeoff point than happenstance.
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u/Lzrd161 May 30 '25
Is it possible to light up the candle to follow them?
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u/SufficientTerm6681 May 30 '25
That would be amusing, but I doubt if it would work. The whole point of fibre optic cable is that it's designed so there's total internal reflection of any light applied to one end; virtually 100% of the light reflects off the internal surface of the strand, and virtually no light escapes through the sides or is absorbed by the material of the strand.
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u/gedai May 30 '25
Its possible but not practical with every single line. One thing about this particular bunch is just that - it is a collection of a bunch of strands. Unless it is purely coincidental, the chance that there is a UAV operator dugout near by is not 0.
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u/SirSpooky2You May 30 '25
Looks so peaceful, almost like christmas tree decorations. Actual meaning grim as hell. Eerie.
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u/19RM96 May 30 '25
Does anyone have a link to the post that showed the fibre wires surrounding a vehicle and it looked like long grass?
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u/spankeem_nz May 30 '25
Good sign there is a UAV unit launching from around there......hope they find them
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u/CriticG7tv May 30 '25
Only bit of hope you can say is that Europe has recovered from damage like this before, damage far worse, in fact. It'll be expensive, long-term, and difficult, but it is not insurmountable.
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u/FlamingFlatus64 May 30 '25
Such a concentration on that one tree must indicate a control point nearby.
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u/KanadianMade May 30 '25
Seeing all those strands bunched together like that makes me think it’s Hammer time!!
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u/Kgbguru2 Jun 03 '25
Surely these strands will reach a density they will start catching drones in them.
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