Question about the government (Confused) and row

[Cobra Commander]

If the president and more never made it to the Ark and other officials, then where is everyone?

Is the Russian military and air-force and everything completely destroyed?

Can they rebuild?

What does the future mean?

What happened to the rest of the world? Like Australia, Antarctica, North and South pole settlements "yes Irl" there are settlements in the poles.

[Jig McGalliger]

The Ark may have once been a decent haven with official government control, but they seem to have devolved due to a lack of resource management since they maybe only had supplies for fewer than 20 years on hand.

People are still scattered, disparate factions taking power to control resources where they can. What is the point of tanks and an air force when there is not much left in "need" of being destroyed? What is the point when there isn't enough fuel to operate those fleets?

That is the theme of the entire Metro franchise, you reap what you sow. Force answers force, war breeds war, and death only brings death. To break this vicious circle one must do more than just act without any thought or doubt.

Artyom's story is one of hope to rebuild on the surface for him and his crew, but creating a whole new country that will wage war or have war raged against them is not part of his agenda.

There is an extensive fan-made lore set in the Metro universe with novels about other areas of the world: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metro_(franchise)
https://metrovideogame.fandom.com/wiki/Universe_of_Metro_2033_(Book_Series)