It is often said that armies always prepare to fight the previous war. This rings particularly true in relation to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The sheer scale of the war unleashed by Vladimir Putin in February 2022 has exposed a lack of preparedness among the Western defense establishment, which has spent the past few decades focused on defeating lightly armed paramilitaries and terrorist networks.
The defense industries of Western countries have so far struggled to meet the challenges presented by Russia’s invasion, with output in core categories such as artillery shells still far below the needs of the Ukrainian military. At the same time, the war in Ukraine has provided military officials with unprecedented insights into the realities of full-scale warfare in the twenty-first century.
New military technologies are playing a key role in the Russian invasion of Ukraine, with a range of innovations rapidly transforming the battlefield. Ukraine has proved highly adept at this form of warfare. Ukraine’s success is in part due to the country’s vibrant tech sector, much of which quickly refocused on the needs of the defense industry following the start of Russia’s attack in early 2022.
Voice of Ukraine 