This Is How Ukraine's Arms Industry Can Help It Fight Better

Denys Gurak

Security, Europe

(And the West can help too.)

Key point: Integration and modernization would do wonders for Ukraine's ability to arm itself.

The global balance of power is in transition. A global order that was established after World War II and the collapse of Soviet Union is now evolving and often dysfunctional. We are witnessing the expansion of a multipolar world, and the risk of conflict is intensifying due to an increase in the number of influential players around the world.

Ukraine is at the epicenter of these changes and the interests of many of the world’s major powers. It is the key to balancing Russia’s global ambitions. Since its military aggression in Ukraine in 2014, and even earlier, starting with its war with Georgia, Russia has continuously tried to destabilize and diminish the global-security system.

This was done with only one aim: for Russia to reassert itself under a new post–Soviet sphere of influence with new borders, both physical and psychological. President Vladimir Putin made this clear in 2007 during his speech at the Munich Security Conference, where he complained that “the United States has overstepped its national borders, and in every area.”

Of the tools Russia uses to gain geopolitical influence, the most crucial is the “diffusion of tactics.” These tactics involve various methods of influence, ranging from military conflicts to the manipulation of national political and economic systems through disinformation and proxies, as well as cyber warfare.

Faced with such threats, Western political and security systems are vulnerable. Democracy requires public trust and a bureaucratic consensus to survive. Putin knows this, which is why he has sought to undermine these pillars of democratic stability.