American and European observers tend to see Ukraine’s military as plucky and innovative and Russia’s as set in its ways. But this view has itself become outdated, missing “the extent to which Moscow has learned from its failures” and “adapted its approach to war,” argues the defense analyst Dara Massicot in a new essay from the forthcoming issue of Foreign Affairs.
Starting in 2022, Massicot writes, Russia “launched a systematic effort to examine its combat experience” and draw lessons from it. Moscow has updated its training manuals, given “junior commanders more freedom to plan,” and come up with “fresh ways of using drones to find and kill Ukrainian soldiers.” The Kremlin is developing “a distinct vision of the future of combat”—which poses a danger well beyond Ukraine’s battlefields, because Russia is sharing its know-how with China, Iran, and North Korea. Washington and European capitals “need to study Russia’s studying,” Massicot warns, or risk falling behind.
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