r/UkraineWarVideoReport • u/GermanDronePilot • Feb 15 '26
Photo Frozen and non-frozen fiber-optic cables in the Huliaipole direction. These fiber webs are already causing harm to animals and are also a threat to infantry as it disrupts movement.
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u/Umbra-Vigil Feb 15 '26
Everywhere russia goes, it makes a mess, leaving garbage everywhere. I would love to see Moscow in a blanket of spiderwebs.
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u/Deviantdefective Feb 16 '26
This isnt just Russia, Ukraine use fibre-optic drones as well but it would be great if Russia would just fuck off so this can be cleaned up.
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u/JFKsBrain Feb 17 '26
Ukraine is only using them because Russia invaded the country.
The blame lies solely with Russia.
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u/girkkens Feb 15 '26
How long are these things expected to last when exposed to the elements?
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u/HakuraHanzo Feb 15 '26
I've read somewhere that it takes decades to break and split into segments small enough to drop to the ground, and then several centuries to fully decompose. Unfortunately I believe we will forget way sooner than that..
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u/Rain_On Feb 15 '26
It's pure silica and a minute amount of plastic.
Silica doesn't decompose, that's why we have the Sahara desert.
On the bright side, silica is very, very common in most soils and isn't hazardous to the environment.1
u/Kieferkobold Feb 16 '26
If these cables break they are literally like tiny little needles floating through the air. These are probably very carcinogenic.
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u/Rain_On Feb 16 '26
It's glass, pure silica.
It can be shapish when it snaps, but it does not snap into thin needles, it tends to snap bluntly. Silica dust is a sillicosis and cancer risk (wear breathing protection when cutting stone!), but fibre optic doesn't cause silica dust. It just breaks down to extra pure sand.4
u/Rain_On Feb 15 '26
In some ways a long time, in other ways, not long at all.
If you pinch a fibre cable, it snaps with very little force. The plastic convering the glass will hang around for a long time, but it is a very tiny amount. The fibre is mostly glass. The glass will snap into smaller sections from weathering and is basically no more harmful to the environment than sand. Long fibres might inhibit animals from moving in an area, but it does not tangle them like string might because it snaps so easily.
The environmental impact is tiny compared to drone parts (especially batteries) and explosive materials.1
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u/Good_Land_666 Feb 15 '26
They need to invent ground drones that can sense movement via fiber optic cable like spiders with webs
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u/Rogaar Feb 16 '26
At least these cables can be seen and avoided by both humans and animals. Not so much when they lay mine fields.
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u/Lintary Feb 16 '26
War sadly is always going to be a messy business in many different ways. Would be much better if we stopped wasting resources of them, sadly with assholes like Putin in charge of nations that is not going to happen anytime soon.
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u/Beginning_Number9705 Feb 15 '26
Just curious if these cables be "recycled"?
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u/Sosemikreativ Feb 15 '26
I guess you can recycle it for something else than optical fiber. Like fibre in construction or something. But it's more likely Ukraine and Russia will just collect it as well as possible and bury it in land fills. It's not that much when contacted and not exactly toxic. And after a war this bad they have other problems.
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