32. A Russian Way of War? Attrition in Ukraine

In today’s show, we'll be discussing why Russia has resorted to using an attritional approach against Ukrainian forces given the huge costs that attritional warfare often incurs. Such a strategy is completely unlike how a NATO army would choose to fight – they would preferably use what the British Army refers to as the manoeuvrist approach. Given that NATO hasn’t fought any major conflicts for sometime now, the difficulties in manoeuvre warfare – even despite the major technological developments of recent years – needs to be fully understood. And so there is much to learn in looking at how these two sides have been fighting this war.

We have on the show with us today Professor Mark Galeotti, an honorary professor at University College London and senior associate fellow at RUSI. Professor Galeotti is an expert on Russian affairs, and has written over twenty books covering Russia's recent political and military history.