💔Heavy footage that vividly demonstrates how war is changing. Now the intensity of combat actions can be determined not so much by destroyed buildings, but by the amount of optical fibre.

Pilots of the reconnaissance company of the 63rd Brigade showed what Lyman looks like now. The city is holding on, but is gradually being covered by this "cobweb". Every day hundreds of enemy and our "birds" fly here – and each one leaves its mark🥺

🛡63rd SMBr | STEEL LIONS

https://t.me/ombr_63/1460

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[–] nimble@lemmy.blahaj.zone 29 points 5 days ago (4 children)

I'm interested to see what kind of cleanup can eventually be done. Cleaning up these fiber "cobwebs" can't be easy.

[–] krooklochurm@lemmy.ca 12 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Fibre optic cotton candy machines.

The Ukrainians can make the Russians eat the cotton candy when the wars over.

[–] Sculptor9157@sh.itjust.works 1 points 4 days ago

So shall it be written, so shall it be done.

[–] Nalivai@lemmy.world 4 points 4 days ago

The whole region is unbelievable fucked. It will take decades to restore after Russia fucks off. And if it doesn't fuck off, it will be dead forever

[–] some_kind_of_guy@lemmy.world 2 points 4 days ago

A large enough rake

[–] MrEff@lemmy.world 21 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Now is the perfect time to seize the opportunity and write/film a scifi movie about alien spiders that have come to Earth and the ensuing battles against them, leaving our human cities bombed and covered in webs. Will we defeat the foreign invaders off our homeland? Or will the barbaric aliens keep our land as a beachhead to further their conquest? Analogies may apply.

[–] krooklochurm@lemmy.ca 10 points 4 days ago

Children of time is a very good book about hyper intelligent spiders. Though in the book humans come to the hyper intelligent spider planet and not the other way around.

It's very, very good.

[–] FaceDeer@fedia.io 18 points 5 days ago (1 children)

It has an eerie beauty to it.

I remember seeing some photos a while back of bird nests made out of fragments of fibre optic cable, those looked pretty neat too. On the plus side, when this stuff degrades it just turns into sand. So at least there won't be a toxic waste problem on top of everything else.

[–] Blue_Morpho@lemmy.world 18 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Plastic is preferred for dronesbecause it doesn't break.

Glass is used for long runs. As glass fiber degrades you get thousands of fragments so it's the equivalent of fiberglass. The long term effect of fiberglass exposure is pulmonary fibrosis.

https://bou.org.uk/blog-moreland-fibreoptic-drones/#%3A%7E%3Atext=A+fine+mess%2Cmake+them+difficult+to+recycle.

[–] FaceDeer@fedia.io 8 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Only if the glass gets into your lungs, though. If it's mixed with the soil it's just sand.

Wasn't aware they used plastic fibers. I guess that would make it lighter, too.

[–] Blue_Morpho@lemmy.world 5 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Fiberglass in soil is a hazard to all small animals.

https://www.foodmanufacture.co.uk/Article/2024/07/02/fibreglass-particles-found-in-oysters-and-mussels/

Imagine walking barefoot over thousands of tiny syringes. Or eating a seed covered in broken glass that you are unable to wash off because you are a mouse.

Yes in the very long term it will break down. But that's probably geologic timeframes because once the fiberglass gets under the topsoil it won't degrade further unless the soil is disturbed.

[–] FaceDeer@fedia.io -1 points 4 days ago (1 children)

If it's under the topsoil then it's not going to be eaten by mice or oysters.

I really think this is one of those problems where people are looking for problems to make a big deal out of, like the massive panic about plastic straws a while back. Especially in this case where it turns out the fibers are plastic to begin with.

[–] Blue_Morpho@lemmy.world 2 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

If it’s under the topsoil then it’s not going to be eaten by mice or oysters.

That takes years.

There's research about the dangers of microplastics. It's not speculation. https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adl2746

[–] FaceDeer@fedia.io 0 points 3 days ago (1 children)

You just seamlessly switched from plastic straws specifically to all microplastics from all sources. This is exactly the sort of thing I'm talking about. How much do plastic straws contribute to microplastics? It's utterly negligible. But it's something that a public panic can be whipped up over, and people end up thinking they're actually accomplishing something meaningful by switching to paper straws. It's outright counterproductive. If I was a Captain Planet villain then I would consider it my greatest accomplishment to get people worked up about plastic straws and thinking that they were significant.

Same here with these fibre optics. The environmental impact is trivial, be it plastic or glass. The cost of worrying about it is far greater than the cost of just going ahead and using it.

[–] Blue_Morpho@lemmy.world 2 points 3 days ago (1 children)

You just seamlessly switched from plastic straws specifically to all microplastics from all sources.

No, you threw out a concentrated localized source of microplastics by saying, "Its just straws." That village is covered in thousands of miles of fiber. Most plastic, some glass.

How much do plastic straws contribute to microplastics?

So if I shredded pounds of plastic and a little fiber glass and sprinkle it from the air on your house it doesn't matter because straws?

GTFO. You'd be the first person crying to the government about how your lawn is ruined.

We're talking about a village covered in fiber optics.

If that's glass fibers in that nest, the baby birds will be dead.

[–] FaceDeer@fedia.io 0 points 3 days ago (1 children)

So if I shredded pounds of plastic and a little fiber glass and sprinkle it from the air on your house it doesn't matter because straws?

Are you forgetting that this is an active war zone? The whole reason those fibers are there is because flying bombs are using them for guidance. Having to sweep up some sparkly fiber is a trivial distraction from far more important issues.

Exactly as I keep pointing out.

[–] Blue_Morpho@lemmy.world 2 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

Bullshit. You said this:

"On the plus side, when this stuff degrades it just turns into sand. So at least there won't be a toxic waste problem on top of everything else."

After I showed it is a toxic waste problem on top over everything else you moved the goal post to "straws".

I didn't say they should stop using drones. I only refuted your claim that there's nothing to clean up afterwards.

[–] FaceDeer@fedia.io 0 points 3 days ago (1 children)

A little plastic fiber isn't toxic waste. You are applying absolutely ridiculous standards.

[–] Blue_Morpho@lemmy.world 2 points 3 days ago

I already linked to a 20 year research paper that shows micro plastics are toxic. That they aren't as toxic as lead or depleted uranium found on other battlefields doesn't make it non toxic.

https://ceobs.org/plastic-pollution-from-fibre-optic-drones-may-threaten-wildlife-for-years

[–] fort_burp@feddit.nl 6 points 4 days ago (1 children)

How does that work? I mean, what is the relationship between drones and the fibre? Does each drone have to have it's own fibre or something?

[–] Natanael@infosec.pub 15 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Yes, they carry spools of a hollow fiber which is extra lightweight to resist radio jamming

[–] fort_burp@feddit.nl 9 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Does that mean technically that these are all wired (as opposed to wireless) drones??

[–] BilboBargains@lemmy.world 13 points 4 days ago

These drones are literally hardwired to the controller, the physical layer is a fibre-optic filament through which all the control actions are sent and feedback received. Commercial grade drone control over radio is vulnerable to electronic warfare of which the Russians have a suite of tools at their disposal.

[–] zabadoh@ani.social 5 points 4 days ago (1 children)

If the fibers are dense enough in a particular area, doesn't that make that area drone proof?

[–] some_kind_of_guy@lemmy.world 6 points 4 days ago (1 children)

How so? Wouldn't they just fly above it laying out their own spool on the pile?

[–] zabadoh@ani.social 8 points 4 days ago

I meant a drone proof area for the people in houses under all the fibers.