War in Ukraine: Conflict, Strategy, and the Return of a Fractured World; The War for Ukraine: Strategy and Adaptation Under Fire; A Call to Action: Lessons from Ukraine for the Future Force

Authors

• Frank Hoffman

Abstract

This book review considers three recent works on the war in Ukraine: War in Ukraine: Conflict, Strategy, and the Return of a Fractured World, edited by Hal Brands; The War for Ukraine: Strategy and Adaptation Under Fire by Mick Ryan; and A Call to Action: Lessons from Ukraine for the Future Force, edited by John A. Nagl and Katie Crombe. The reviewer argues that the three books provide complementary perspectives on the conflict at the strategic, operational, and tactical levels while highlighting the difficulty of drawing firm lessons from an ongoing war. The review discusses strategic decisionmaking and risk assessment, Ukraine’s and Russia’s competing theories of victory, adaptation under fire, mission command, precision fires, artificial intelligence, drones, and the continuing importance of the human dimension of warfare. It also emphasizes the value of Ukrainian decentralization and initiative compared with more centralized Russian command practices. Taken together, the books are presented as useful early assessments of the changing character of war and as important resources for professional military education, force development, and future joint and Army planning.