Ukraine’s war: lessons learned for military planning services
Translated by Farah El Desouky
The shock of the Russian-Ukrainian war has awakened defense policy planners in many countries of the world, especially those geo-strategic proximity to this confrontation. The attention of strategic studies centers and the research and operations divisions of the armies’ staff is focused, monitored and reflected on the details of the Russian-Ukrainian war, which has been going on since February 2022, and is expected to be prolonged, perhaps for months or years to come.
Stopping at the exact and daily details of the course of the Russian-Ukrainian war not limited to military stakeholders and strategic planners in large States or close to the military or strategic theatre of operations of this war only, we believe that they are also monitored and analyzed by the strategic and military planning services of small States or States that are constantly exposed to threats from larger neighboring States. For example, many analyses have emerged from research centers in Taiwan warning of Ukraine’s scenario, it expresses its fear that China will follow the same approach as Russia’s military operations in Ukraine. Elite circles in other countries have also expressed fear that the world will return to the logic of power and ideas of territorial occupation. and intervening to overthrow governance systems in countries that are not responsive to the interests of the major Powers, Amid the international system’s inability to prevent or respond effectively to cases of aggression Unquestionably disturbing and threatening the existence of many of the world’s nations, If the logic of force prevails and the levels of adherence to international instruments have decreased, notably the Charter of the United Nations, which criminalizes recourse to armed force except in limited cases involving legitimate self-defense and the restitution of aggression (Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations).
In this context, military and strategic research centers are moving towards rethinking and reviewing certain security and defense issues and policies. Especially with regard to the logic and patterns of war and the use of armed force in relation to the rehabilitation of the importance of certain conventional weapons, such as artillery, The use of modern weapons in warfare such as hypersonic missiles or cyberwarfare means and the use of unmanned media and weapons such as marches, boats and others, as well as reviews of nuclear deterrence policies, their feasibility and development dynamics, and their relevance to the nature of wars in the twenty-first century.
This strategic assessment paper (issue 4) by the Ra Centre for Strategic Studies will focus in particular on the idea of lessons learned from this war for defense and security policy planners in general, and how can this war change the direction of global and regional defense policies?
