Ukraine and the Changing Character of War

Excerpt

While policymakers in Washington and European capitals tend to debate troop movements and
sanctions, focusing on conventional kinetic warfighting techniques, the Kremlin is busy waging a non-kinetic information war against the West. Russia’s theoretical framework positions information warfare as one of the key domains of future conflict, with prominent military leaders and theorists projecting a “sixth generation” of “non-contact” warfare where conflicts “will be resolved…primarily by taking advantage of information superiority.” In this new domain of warfare, the strategic objective is not battlefield dominance, but rather degrading adversary decision-making, controlling perceptions, and eroding institutional and societal cohesion before kinetic engagement even begins.

The United States, in turn, needs to recognize information warfare as the threat it is. Countering it requires the same urgency as do responses to military threats, because in the Kremlin’s conception of warfare, they are one and the same.

Dr. Ivana Stradner is a Research Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, where her research focuses on influence operations.