Public opinion regarding the Russia-Ukraine conflict is highly polarized, with discussions ranging from strong support for Ukraine and condemnation of Russian aggression to admiration for Russian military capabilities and skepticism about Western involvement. Many voices express frustration with ongoing violence, call for peace, and criticism of leadership on both sides, reflecting a deep-seated disillusionment and varying perceptions of military effectiveness.

Russia

Ukraine

NATO

Western nations

I believe all Soviet nukes were under Moscow control anyway. Regardless of their location (happy to be corrected).

But if UKR had them operational itself, Russia would not have started its SMO.

Just like USA has not invaded / attacked Nth Korea. Nobody wants to get nuked by a desperate &amp; outnumbered state.

2GR-AURION

There is no Russian-Ukraine War. 


Not because Ukraine would have nuclear weapons in 2014 or 2021, but because they never make it that far. 


When a newly independent Ukraine makes it clear they don't intend to surrender the Soviet warheads, they would have been politically and economically isolated by most of the world. Their economy, already in serious trouble, would collapse. They can't pay to secure or maintain the warheads, which becomes an increasingly serious concern to the international community. Eventually, NATO makes a move to secure the warheads, possibly with Russian assistance. Russia would be in a position to annex some or all of Ukraine, and they probably would've had significant support inside Ukraine, and in the international community.

FreeBricks4Nazis

Nuclear-armed Ukraine would get no military support from NATO to begin with, IRL they faced extreme diplomatic/economic pressure from both the US and Russia to end their nuclear "capability"; which they couldn't afford to maintain until 2022. 

And Yanukovich probably gave Putin the launch codes already.

Assuming Russian forces are already invading Ukraine and Ukraine is getting NATO support, Zelensky would have most of West breathing down his neck about using nuclear weapons against Russia. 

As it stood in the 90s, Ukraine was considered the less politically stable actor with nukes than Russia, and would likely still be treated that way by everyone in 2022. 

&gt;but does it matter if you don't have enough nuclear weapons to take out your opponent.

Yes it does, otherwise Russia would only have 10 of them.

Deep_Belt8304

2022 came after 2014, though. We would not have had the bigger war without the successes of Russia in the smaller wars, and it is difficult to imagine these happening in the same way if Ukraine in 2014 had nuclear weapons.


On balance, I think that a credible Ukrainian arsenal would be able to deter Russia from invading. Russia might have a bigger nuclear arsenal, but Russia is also deeply vulnerable to nuclear weapons from Ukraine, most major Russian cities being within missile range. Even with hundreds of nukes, Ukraine would be credibly able to deter Russia, especially if like other relatively weaker countries it has adopted a countervalue strategy emphasizing attacks on enemy cities. Russia and Ukraine would probably look like India and Pakistan, essentially static and stable.


The big problem comes if someone—someone in Russia—thinks that they know better and can preempt Ukraine. This has precedents in OTL: Russia's 2022 invasion was mounted in the face of skepticism that Russia actually would make such a poor decision, given the balance of forces. In that case, we could well have a nuclear war.

RandyFMcDonald

So firstly for Ukraine to keep those nuclear weapons they would have to take them from the troops guarding them who were not listing to the Ukrainian government, and they would have to remove or modify the code locks on the all nukes.

Assuming they do this without triggering a UN intervention before the nukes are ready Ukraine would end up a pariah state, likely under enormous economic sanction, internationally isolated, and very poor. 

There would be no war, but Ukraine would probably end up the major security concern for most European states, not Russia.

Notsosmartboi

Simple answer is the invasion never would’ve taken place. Russia wouldn’t have risked the nuclear retaliation for the sake of an extra buffer zone when they themselves have the world’s largest nuclear arsenal as a deterrent. 

If Russia was still going to go at it, and both sides were willing to use nuclear weapons you need to ask whether or not the opening conventional elements of the war remain the same. Russia walked into Ukraine not expecting serious resistance, under supplied and under manned. This squandered an opportunity to take the country when they did genuinely have a chance if they had just approach the conflict differently without it turning into the long attritional war it’s become. 

Do they change their strategy to taking Ukraine more seriously and thus, with a prepared and concerted war of maneuver actually start to make serious gains in a short period of time like they were actually capable of? If that was the case, Ukraine likely would’ve started deploying tactical nukes to stem the Russian advance. If it turned into the long grinding war, the Russians would’ve used a concentrated number of tactical nukes to breach the front line and advance through there.

Whether or not Russia was willing to use a lot of nukes in Ukraine depends on your perspective of what they wanted with the Country. Some reasons have suspected they wanted a buffer zone, others that they wanted the population, and some thinking that they just wanted to eliminate the possibility of them becoming a NATO nation. Which one of motivations you subscribe to will determine whether or not irradiating chunks of the country would be a strategic detriment to them.

MajorPayne1911

Its? The nukes were property of the USSR and Russia is the legal successor state. They were never really Ukraine's property. Furthermore, the launch codes for these weapons were always under the control of the Moscow. The Ukrainians had the know-how to make nukes undoubtedly but they were a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Assuming they had nukes, a la DPKR, the Russians would not have allowed the CIA backed coup to go down as it did in 2014.

HugaBoog

I'm pretty sure Trump didn't ink a deal with NATO. He just promised patriot missiles that belong to other NATO countries to Ukraine.

Trump is a pathological liar and he loves to take credit for other people's accomplishments. He also loves to tell outlandish lies. Never take his word for anything, always get independent confirmation of his claims.

For those of you who do not know, in the first three years of Trump's first term he told over 35,000 documented lies.

IpppyCaccy

50 days in the clear to terrorize and murder civilians. 50 more days of Korean meat waves and chemical weapons. Another gift to Putin.

Hypnotized78

"50 days" is just another variation of his claimed goals that never happen. It's very similar to an infrastructure plan in "2 weeks" or "90 trade deals in 90 days". Just more BS lying.

Runic_reader451

He gives everyone else two weeks, but Putin gets seven and one day. That’s gotta mean something.

fatface4711


Привіт u/nyckidd ! During wartime, this community is focused on vital and high-effort content. Please ensure your post follows [r/Ukraine Rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/ukraine/about/rules).

**Want to support Ukraine?**  [**Vetted Charities List**](https://www.reddit.com/r/ukraine/wiki/charities) | [Our Vetting Process](https://www.reddit.com/r/ukraine/wiki/charities-vetting)

**Daily series on Ukraine's history &amp; culture:**  [Sunrise Posts Organized By Category](https://www.reddit.com/r/ukraine/wiki/sunriseposts/)

**To learn about how you can support Ukraine politically, visit r/ActionForUkraine**

*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/ukraine) if you have any questions or concerns.*

AutoModerator

Hopefully 50 days is a maximum not a minimum, and he acts sooner to catch them with their pants down.

IncorporateThings

rgm480

Iirc, wasn’t the presidential deal still taking funds from the remaining original one made before his administration?

Express-Preference-6

What exactly is the problem Ukraine is having stopping these advances at the moment?

East-Plankton-3877

Both sides shot at eachother at the exact same time which killed everyone involved hence both populations are now zero.

ackbladder_

Drones gained consciousness and now rule both countries instead of humans, all the Eastern Slavs that you see are AI-generated for concealment

Altruistic_Box6232

jurrassic_no

FluidProfile6954

Scottishnorwegian

koreangorani

i like how italy looks less populated then ireland with 10x more the population

Solid_Condition_143

They do not exist. It’s a distraction from the fact that bo

Dr_Axton

War is bad for you!

Do you finally believe it?

DerMatjes

alintos

Would you live in an active warzone? Yeah, thought so.

Lathari

Wait till you hear about the yugaslav war...

weatherweer

So continental Spain is less populated than Northern Sweden? Wow

Pale-Office-133

As a person living in Moscow,Russia, Can confirm that we don't exist

https://preview.redd.it/z4r5656qxfcf1.png?width=1080&amp;format=png&amp;auto=webp&amp;s=f85031db6bb66fc4d0468c017bb192ad9d868e1a

OVER9000LORD_RUS

You see, everyone living outside the EU are untermenches, so...

Select_Professor3373

m1ndie

CaramelMachiattos

[deleted]

Apologies, my initial map relied on an erroneous source that listed Syria as a "no" vote. Syria abstained. 

I also included on this map votes for "yes" and those nations that abstained or do not have a vote. 

[Source](https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/4076672?ln=en)

WartimeHotTot

That's some fine company the US is keeping.

Odd_Feature2775

Never thought I’d see the day that we are with North Korea

Quincyperson

Money-Sound-7621

jkldgr

Remember when Americans hated Russia and North Korea and now those same people voted to be on the side of fascism and dictators. 

Fucking pathetic.

battleship61

Psigun

Israel, Russia, the US, and North Korea on the same side... what timeline have we entered???

the-kendrick-llama

Hungary is certainly a stain on European consensus...

RoadandHardtail

So israel really does just side with everything the US decides, like Belarus does Russia

Commie_Bastardo7

It's interesting how views change from when political leaders change. 
Russia started the war during Biden. Ukraine started the war says Trump.

Yet Americans boycotted Russian products when the war started and even protested. Are these same people going to protest against Ukrain now..

FDJT.

Holiday_Sense_4842

Russia should have voted yes just to remind everyone the US is bananas.

babysharkdoodood

It’s comical How quick the descent into fascism is. The average human is so fucking stupid that they didn’t even have to hide it. They just did it and the average American believed the price of eggs justifies the end of americas place in the world

MiyakeIsseyYKWIM

SeparateMongoose192

somebooty2223

TheOmniverse_

Big_Assumption399

"I invaded you but I'm not the aggressor" 


Clown world

kytheon

I like how South africa calls out Israel for the Palestinian issue but is a loyal partner as a member of BRICS.

Coronabandkaro

lol and Africans try to tell me the Sahel states aren’t owned by Russia now

Jarboner69

Strange to see that the most basic fact is up for negotiation on such a high level.

Eonir

Less of an axis. More of a random cluster of idiocy + some African vassal states. China's red is invisible, and I had no expectations of India either. Serbia's green is questionable, probably eyeing EU money

AvidCyclist250

TheTacoEnjoyerReborn

Any_Commission3964

Odd_Instruction_7785

I genuinely don’t know which way is up or down anymore.

Proper_University55

Could have abstained, voting "no" was a choice.

Fliep_flap

usumoio

Insane that we are destroying relations with decades, if not centuries old, allies because of one man

Are we about to be on the wrong side of history?

merckx575

the aggressor and all adversarial states should be expel from the un and the wto.  

let them form their own axis of evil alliance and trade among themselves.

Bush_Trimmer

Naming something is not going to stop a war

AdventurousGold9875

Trump is a Russian asset:

https://www.kyivpost.com/post/47630

Solid-Still-7590

5trudelle

Israel, Hungary, Nicaragua, and the US have sided with actual autocracies and/or dysfunctional governments. And its interesting who abstained: the rest of the BRICS.

Man the US really has tarnished it's geopolitical reputation for the foreseeable future hasn't it? I suppose in a way one of the only good things is that Europe are gonna be stronger together as opposed to relying on the US now

SuddenlyDiabetes

Basically BRICS nations, or ones that want to join, chose to abstain.

Pale-Candidate8860

Peter-Andre

InclinationCompass

TRAPSTERyt

Good,  they were. It 6 a shame our government is now run by traitors.

Repulsive_Smile_63

wildrabbit12

How can someone say that Russia isn't the aggressor?
I understand that someone could argue that Russia did it for a just cause(I don't agree with that), but Russi started the attack, Russia invaded Ukraine, so Russia is objectively the aggressor

Malfo93

Oh my god, sorry as a Hungarian, our dictator is trash

Karabars

It's always those third world countries: Russia, North Korea, Sudan and... USA?

DuckMitch

Le_Juice_

udmndrugs

I am much more worried about the grey ones: historically those are the enablers of the fascist and nazi regimes.

iolmao

We did the same with Germany in the first world war. Went really well ...

fennforrestssearch

Wonderful-Cicada-912

erasmulfo

Snoo-46218

Why is it “Ukraine war” and not Ukraine’s defence against Russian Invasion of February 2022?

Beljason

What is the reasoning for Hungary and the USA ?

Nxthanael1

So wait. Israel voted against that ,while they're literally having the same issue as Ukraine?  ( Referring to the fact that there's a state in a state) oh , that's so ironic lol

Dull_Witness_8995

herbertwilsonbeats

clandistic

Mexico is neutral couldn’t call aggressor

UwU7536

CYBER-POLLO

Immigration should be ended for all countires abstaining and voting against.

SerumStar2

Recent attacks by Russian forces in Ukraine have resulted in significant casualties as the conflict continues ahead of scheduled peace talks.

Russia-Ukraine War Updates

Why This Matters

Public Sentiment Summary

Highlighted Comments

Parties Involved

What the people want