Irregular Warfare Podcast Ukraine's Hidden Front: The Strategic Impact of Resistance Operations
Dec 26, 2025
Mark Hartling, a retired Lieutenant General with 38 years in the U.S. Army, and Alexandra Chinchilla, an international affairs professor at Texas A&M, dive into Ukraine's resistance operations. They discuss the evolution of special operations forces, the importance of irregular warfare, and how innovation in technology like drones has bolstered Ukrainian capabilities. The conversation highlights the strategic impact of partisan activities, the effectiveness of Ukrainian strikes against Russian forces, and critical lessons for military advisors navigating modern conflict.
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Prewar SOF Investment Paid Strategic Dividends
- Ukraine built irregular warfare capacity pre-war through SOF training and partner support, which later substituted for conventional weaknesses.
- These capabilities let Ukraine conduct long-range strikes, targeted assassinations, and partisan actions to shape the battlefield.
Training Bridges SOF and Conventional Forces
- Mark Hartling recalled training and integrating SOF with conventional forces in Europe and at the NTC.
- That cross-training helped Ukraine synchronize small-unit irregular actions with larger conventional efforts.
Invest In SOF Where ROI Is High
- Accept that investing manpower in SOF reduces conventional resources but yields outsized returns when synchronized correctly.
- Allocate resources based on return-on-investment and scale successful shaping actions.