Ukraine’s ‘super soldiers’ bust stereotypes of what ‘lethal’ looks like
The Ukrainian battlefield has also forced a rethinking of the role of tanks, experts say
Meghann Myers | February 20, 2025
Ukraine Drones Russia
Ukraine’s military has grown fourfold since Russia’s full-scale invasion began three years ago, holding off a much bigger force with soldiers who have gone from civilian to battle-ready in just weeks.
Their success on the battlefield, where cheap drones are taking out tank formations, has forced a rethink of what a lethal ground-combat force actually looks like.
“There's often super soldiers, and super soldiers are a function of training and discipline and how you adapt people to different combinations of combined arms,” Ben Jensen, a senior fellow at the Center for International and Strategic Studies, said during an event Thursday. “And I think that innovation right there—that rapidly being able to turn civilians off the street into some of the most lethal fighting formations we've ever seen.”
“It also shows us that some of the discourse around lethality that we're hearing in the news now might be slightly flawed,” Jensen said. “I'm not fully convinced that modern lethality is ‘the most physically fit stud muffin killing the other most physically fit stud muffin’.”
https://www.defenseone.com/threats/2025/02/ukraines-super-soldiers-bust-stereotypes-what-lethal-looks/403150/?oref=d1-featured-river-secondary
