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Comment by legerdemain | Hacker News Reader

I'm not sure I understand the point of this hair-splitting. There is a front line with land mines, ongoing armed conflict, and recent soldier casualties.

Saying that what Ukraine has is a "frozen conflict" and not a war zone is like a real estate agent calling a crappy house a "renovator's dream."

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Ukrainian army only had 75 casualties in 2020... and this is on a very small area near the Russian border. The rest of the country is absolutely fine.

This is a continuing misrepresentation of a grim reality. The entirety of the US armed forces, in all of its "ongoing contingency operations" (euphemism for combat) around the entire world, has lost less than 75 people over the period of the last several years. "We've only had 75 people die in active combat on domestic soil last year!" is not a great sales pitch for Ukrainian quality of life.

"A very small area near the Russian border" is literally moving the goalposts. Until Russia stepped in and redrew the border of Ukraine, the front lines were a hundred miles from the border.

Not really sure the point that you're trying to make here. You seem to be implying that anyone living anywhere in Ukraine (such as Kyiv) is under constant threat of getting bombed by Russia, while jjjei3 is saying that Ukraine is relatively safe.

If you're so sure its so dangerous there, maybe you can pull up statistics about number/rate of shooting deaths there compared to the US?

I think what you're doing is called "sea-lioning" online. I mentioned numerous ways in which living in Ukraine misses basic first-world standards. Then you come along and say, no-no-no, you need to demonstrate this other statistic that I find more interesting.

100 people were murdered in Chicago in July (just one month) last year so does it mean US as a whole is dangerous? No, my suburban town had zero murders for last 4 years, there was one homicide in 2016 (domestic dispute) and then no murders for 10 years before that. On the other hand it’s unclear which one is safer - South Chicago or Kabul.

Donbass in Ukraine is dangerous and a no go war zone. Downtown Kiev/Lviv are peaceful and have an excellent quality of life with amazing restaurants and nightlife.

You can’t average big countries.

Oh for goodness sake... there were government snipers shooting dozens of people in broad daylight in Kyiv just 6 years ago.

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