Our blog publishes the text of the speech of undoubted interest "The evolving nature of war rethinks the fundamental principles of global security: the Ukrainian experience and the new world order" by the former commander-in-Chief of the Armed forces of Ukraine (in 2021-2024), and now the Ambassador of Ukraine to the United Kingdom, General Valery Zaluzhny at the 3rd British-Ukrainian Defense Technology Forum (The 3rd UK-UA Defense Tech Forum), held in London at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) on April 25, 2025. Unfortunately, the text is given according to a very clumsy translation published in the Ukrainska Pravda newspaper.
First of all, probably everyone present in this Room realized that we live in a time of global change. Their reason is not that I made comments on this subject last year at Chatham House, but rather a number of factors that have emerged in the 21st century.
Especially the war in Ukraine, which has become not only the bloodiest act of violence in the 21st century to date, but also the driving force behind many factors that have already led to changes in the world order. These changes have already taken place. And they do not depend on whether modern politicians want to see them or not.
Secondly, in a world that has already changed and continues to change, the global security system has also changed, contrary to the wishes of the same politicians. It has changed not only because the geopolitical space is changing, but also because the very force on which this security system was based has changed due to the war in Ukraine.
Whether you want to believe it or not, regardless of whether you have contracts for tanks or helicopters for the next 10 years or are still planning to sign them, the nature of military power has already changed. Unfortunately, this is well understood in Ukraine, Russia, and China, but it is not understood at all in other places. I won't say which ones today. It doesn't matter anymore.
So, we're going to talk about Ukrainian technologies. Obviously, politicians will decide who will need them, except Ukraine. I'm just outlining what they are and how they work.
Although I would also like to point out that they are now most relevant for building Europe's defense capabilities. First of all, because of the reformatting of the Euro-Atlantic security space that has begun.
So, about the technology.
The Russian-Ukrainian war has completely changed the nature of the war. One morning in the summer of 2023, when Ukrainian troops, using existing doctrines and available weapons, overcame the enemy's defense lines meter by meter, drones appeared in the sky, which caused the transformation of the entire architecture of the battle. Reconnaissance and attack drones and drones that provide artillery fire adjustments, combined with a situational awareness system, have made the battlefield completely transparent. All this has provided unlimited opportunities for high-precision strikes at the tactical level.
Gradually, as in the First World War, this war reached a dead end. Later, in 2024, the development of scientific and technological progress led to a situation where drones became the only means of hitting targets not only in front of the front line, but also at operational depth. This made it impossible to conceal any equipment, weapons, or reserves even outside the front line.
Precision strikes on logistics routes have become commonplace today. Moreover, such strikes are already part of the tactics of pushing out of positions.
Thus, due to the absolute transparency, a 10-15-kilometer zone of absolute death was formed in front of the front line. It's no longer surprising when a drone hunts not a group target or an armored object, but even an individual soldier. By the way, this zone is constantly expanding, as well as the probability of destruction in it.
Why is this possible? Once again, the reasons for this are as follows.
Firstly, the rapid development of electronic warfare. Thanks to the development of electronic warfare, it has become possible to neutralize the ability of guided munitions with satellite, radar or command guidance to deliver precision strikes at the operational level. The effectiveness of expensive missiles and precision guided munitions has dropped to zero.
Secondly, a large number of tactical and operational reconnaissance and attack drones have appeared on the battlefield.
As a result, tactics and operational art have undergone significant changes.
At the operational level, the war has reached a stalemate. Deep maneuvers or strikes at operational depth have become impossible. This is largely due to the confrontation between unmanned systems, on the one hand, and electronic warfare and air defense systems, on the other. Therefore, classical offensive operations and offensive actions have not only lost their effectiveness, but have also become almost suicidal.
Over time, even the offensive actions of small, highly mobile and technologically equipped tactical groups interacting with situational awareness, support, electronic warfare and air defense systems have become extremely ineffective.
Thus, we can say with confidence that:
1. Thanks to unmanned systems and digital technologies, the traditional and familiar types of weapons that have defined the nature of war for decades have faded into history. They're gone.
2. Armored vehicles, which have been the basis of offensive operations since 1915, have become defenseless against cheap unmanned aerial vehicles, and therefore their use in various types of combat operations is impossible today.
3. High-precision weapons that used GPS satellite guidance systems have lost their effectiveness due to the development of electronic warfare.
4. Air defense is undergoing perhaps the biggest transformation. The emergence of a large number of small and cheap drones has made the use of extremely expensive missiles for air defense systems economically impractical.
5. The air above the battlefield has become inaccessible to manned aircraft, which have become an auxiliary means of air defense. Aviation needs to be upgraded to be able to conduct reconnaissance and strikes from completely different distances.
6. Marine drones are gradually occupying the maritime space. Now mighty ships are hiding in protected ports. It's not just a technology. All this requires a complete rethink of the forms and means of application. As a result, the military doctrine must be reviewed. This will lead to a revision of the principles of the organization of the armed forces and, ultimately, the principles of defense planning.
I do not know how long it will take you, dear audience. I think that for our opponents, this process will take no more than three years, and taking into account scaling, it will take five.
Obviously, victory on the battlefield now depends entirely on the ability to outrun the enemy in technological development. It is very important that changes occur in the research (development) - production -application chain. Innovative development will depend on an effective relationship between them. Manufacturers must be flexible and adaptable, ready to make changes to their hardware solutions at any time. If your technical solutions are regulated by government bureaucracy or corrupt interests, the chain will break and the enemy will get ahead of you. Therefore, you must be prepared to modify your products according to the conditions of use on the battlefield. Of course, you need to pay attention to the following:
1. Development of artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies. It is obvious that the speed of the introduction of artificial intelligence technologies on the battlefield, especially in the management of complex processes in the field of intelligence, planning, control, fire destruction, as well as autonomous combat systems (without human control), will provide a qualitative and quantitative advantage.
2. Solutions in the field of electronic warfare. They are perhaps the most important. It is necessary, in fact, to solve two extremely important tasks: to create a digital field for combat use and to protect it from enemy influence. And this is, of course, the search for new communication technologies. For example, cognitive radio. Such developments already exist. This means that such communication will be able to adapt. It's also important to find new ways to navigate and refocus. Development of new data transmission methods that go beyond the radio frequency spectrum.
3. Development of low-cost, high-precision, long-range unmanned systems. This is necessary for:
Increasing the ability to systematically destroy enemy infrastructure;
Depletion of enemy air defense systems;
The need for group attacks on important enemy targets.
4. Development and production of unmanned aerial vehicles (robots) as a component of the main combat capabilities. The Russian-Ukrainian war has taught countries an important lesson - a war that involves trading human lives for tactical successes is no longer available. In modern combat, a human is an extremely expensive resource. A resource that cannot be restored. We need technology that allows us to maintain combat effectiveness while drastically reducing casualties.
Therefore, we must develop:
Attack drones that have proven to be extremely effective, especially in the face of a shortage of artillery ammunition;
Exploration;
Unmanned vehicles to combat enemy UAVs;
Ground-based unmanned systems;
Universal platforms;
Marine unmanned systems.
5. Civilian or dual-use technologies have reached such a level of development that today they form the basis of combat capabilities. Among them:
The use of commercial satellite systems for intelligence purposes;
The use of 3D printing for the rapid production of spare parts and components of military equipment in military conditions;
Using social media to gather intelligence;
Creation of self-made electronic warfare systems from commercially available components for jamming communications and controlling enemy drones;
Using civilian messengers with end-to-end encryption for data exchange;
Using cloud solutions.
By the way, this already allows small players with limited resources - individual countries, formations, and even divisions - to achieve impressive results using relatively inexpensive asymmetric solutions.
In conclusion, the revolution in military technology based on unmanned systems and artificial intelligence has completely changed the nature of war and provokes its evolution. Thus, the speed of innovation directly increases the ability of the state to win the war.
Presumably, in a future high-tech war, the winner will be the one who adapts to the technological conditions of the battlefield faster than the enemy. Whoever is the first to move to the new military-technological order, systematically and efficiently, will have an absolute strategic advantage and will impose his will on the other side.
As long as the enemy has the resources, forces and means to strike at our territory and attempt offensive actions, he will do so. This is a war of attrition.
Only the complete destruction of the ability to wage war, that is, the military-economic potential, can put an end to this. The destruction of the latter will cast doubt even on the presence of occupation troops in the occupied territory.
In any case, the architecture of both victory and survival strategies at the current stage is possible only by creating a new military-technological system in the current technological cycle, which can last no more than 3-5 years.
In the international arena, the way out of the situation we are talking about today is not only to adapt to new challenges, but also to form a new global security reality, to which Ukraine has already joined as an equal and active participant. Ukraine is no longer just an object of support - we have become a source of experience, technologies and solutions that are of strategic importance to the entire civilized world.
This is not just a matter of supporting Ukraine - it is a matter of joint readiness for a new era of war, in which technology, information and automation of decision-making prevail. The Ukrainian experience has become unique - we were the first to be forced to restructure our army, industry, and strategy in response to challenges that others are only beginning to realize.
These challenges are not only for Ukraine. These are challenges for everyone. Global security is no longer based on the old guarantees - it is built on dynamics, technology and readiness for change. We made our choice and pay a high price for it every day, but in return we got a chance to survive. And we invite you to make this choice with us. Not only survive, but also win. And not only today, but also in the future.
