Ukraine’s Hybrid Army: How Kyiv Built a Force the Soviets Couldn’t Imagine

Licensed by the author from Envato Elements

Valerii Zaluzhnyi, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine from 2021 to 2024, recently wrote a great op-ed for Militarnyi where he discussed command and control in the new Ukrainian armed forces.

His overall thesis is an exploration of how Ukraine fights modern wars. But I think it’s worth a deeper look at where Ukraine came from to truly appreciate how far they have come.

The Old Soviet Army in Ukrainian Camouflage

When Ukraine declared independence in 1991, it inherited a military monster. Nearly 800,000 troops, hundreds of divisions, and a nuclear arsenal that made it the third-largest in the world overnight.

It seemed impressive… a steel colossus capable of waging industrial war. In reality, it was a hollow giant, designed to fight NATO with massed formations and rigid doctrine that belonged to the 1940s, not the 1990s.

The problem was structural rot.

The Soviet model was built for quantity over quality. Division and army headquarters duplicated one another, commanders were bogged down in bureaucracy, and initiative was not just discouraged, it was punished.

Also, political officers lurked in every command post, ensuring loyalty to Moscow mattered more…