An interesting article on how Ukraine changed from a Soviet-style military (i.e., just like the current Russian military) to a NATO-esque force capable of resisting a much greater Soviet/Russian force. It's worth the read.
How Ukraine Learned to FightRussia’s full-scale war started a year ago. Ukraine’s military started slashing its Soviet roots long before.
March 1, 2023
By Jack Detsch, a Pentagon and national security reporter at Foreign Policy.
When Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine one year ago, it triggered national mobilization, international outrage, and a once-in-a-generation migration crisis. It also revealed the Ukrainian military’s slow-burn transformation from a Soviet army to a NATO-style outfit able to outfight, outfox, and out-equip its Russian foes.
After Russia’s first invasion in 2014, and during the war in the Donbas that has raged all the way through the ongoing Russian onslaught, Ukraine slowly began to revamp its military organization and doctrine, allowing it to eventually get to grips with its rival.
If the Ukrainian military had a steep learning curve, so did then-U.S. Army Col. Liam Collins. A career special forces officer and Princeton Ph.D. holder who had hopped back and forth between military deployments and academia, Collins was given a month’s notice in 2016 to join Army Gen. John Abizaid as an aide. Abizaid was a retired four-star general brought on by the Pentagon to advise Ukraine’s defense ministry as it reformed the country’s military.
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Source:
https://foreignpolicy.com/2023/03/01/how-ukraine-learned-to-fight/
