It used to be a war between armies, now it is a war of the people. War used to end by defeating the enemy’s army, now war ends by defeating the enemy’s people. None of us knew that before this war and we had to learn it for the first time… The military…
Kategoriarkiv: Ukraine
The International Military Support to Ukraine – the US Factor
International support for Ukraine has reached record levels in 2025, with according to Al Jazeera, over €309 billion in total aid from 41 countries since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022. Sweden stands out as one of the most generous donor…
The International Military Support to Ukraine – the US Factor
International support for Ukraine has reached record levels in 2025, with according to Al Jazeera, over €309 billion in total aid from 41 countries since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022. Sweden stands out as one of the most generous donor…
Ukraina, Gaza, Sudan: The damned illusive ceasefire continues to haunt Donald Trump
What does it say about conflict and warfare in our time that it is so hard, in spite of often desperate humanitarian needs, to arrive at a ceasefire – or truce, or armistice or cessation of hostilities, denominations and legal ideas have varied over ti…
Shall We Go Forward Together? Of Deals and Red Lines
Lennart Meri Lecture given by Constanze Stelzenmüller on 17 May 2025 at the Lennart Meri Conference 2025 in Tallinn. Dear President Karis, Dear present and former presidents, prime ministers, ministers, and ambassadors (I think that covers the waterfr…
Social engineering and warfare
It has been called “morbid”[1] and “macabre”[2]. The point scheme that Ukraine utilises to maximise the overall effectiveness of its drone forces. However, the gamification of the war in Ukraine is less about war mixing with gaming mechanics than socia…
Russian Reactions to the US and Ukraine’s Agreement on Minerals and new American Arms Deliveries
On May 1, 2025, an agreement was signed between the USA and Ukraine regarding mineral resources, while the US administration approved arms sales to Kyiv worth 50 million dollars. These two events elicited a multifaceted and predictably negative reactio…
“Peace in our time” – Understanding Trump’s means and ends over Ukraine
It is not easy to follow and to understand what the strange and scary events in recent weeks across the Atlantic have been really about, other than that Donald Trump is so keen to make peace in the Russia-Ukraine war since February 2022 – as pledged th…
A Primer on Security Guarantees in the Context of the Russian war against Ukraine War and Implications for NATO, the EU and Sweden
The ongoing conflict in Ukraine has sparked complex debates about security arrangements, international guarantees, and the future of European defense cooperation. This primer touches briefly on the current military balance, potential security framework…
Defence equipment to parties in the Ukraine Conflict
When Sweden end January 2025 decided to implement its so far largest defence assistance package to Ukraine amounting to 1.23 bn dollars this was a powerful signal also to other donors: Do not give up. Enable Ukraine to fight and when the time comes to …
Hostomel 2022
“Sedan det ryska angreppet på Ukraina 2022 har det svenska försvars- och säkerhetspolitiska läget fundamentalt förändrats. Försvarsmakten och armén måste därför snarast utvecklas och transformeras för att anpassas till denna nya kontext.” – Major-Gener…
Unmanned warfare in Ukraine – What to expect during 2025
Like in previous years, this year has shown the potential of unmanned systems on the battlefield. The war in Ukraine has also shown us that there is still a lot of potential to be uncovered in unmanned warfare. With unmanned warfare, I am not only refe…
Unmanned systems in Kursk – Shaping the Battlespace and denying the enemy access
The Ukrainian offensive into Kursk Oblast has taken many by surprise, especially the Russians. Not only because the operation was daring but also because it may have shown that it is still possible to surprise an adversary on an otherwise transparent b…
The evolution of unmanned systems in Ukraine
Although drones are on everyone’s lips, and some think that small unmanned aerial systems will lose their advantage soon[1], a lot is still happening regarding technical development and the evolution of tactical procedures that a modern military needs …
Moscow and Swedish NATO Accession
Russia’s geopolitical goals, its overall confrontation with the west, and its war against Ukraine will continue to be key to dimensioning Moscow’s military planning. Its rhetoric and threats are, however, what Russia has left in its arsenal to deter Sw…
Unmanned systems are more than just a “thing.”
The war between Armenia and Azerbaijan in Nagorno-Karabakh in 2020 and the swift victory by the Azeri military, largely thanks to loitering munitions and tactical UAVs, put the spotlight on how unmanned aerial systems (UAS) could help win not only batt…
Approaching 2024: The anatomy of security concerns – Globally and regionally
As the problematic year 2023 storms towards its conclusion, carrying with it a flood of alarmist analyses in the international discourse with regards to the global and regional security situation, it would seem imperative to seek to specify the securit…