The War for Ukraine is Released in One Month

My new book, "The War for Ukraine: Strategy and Adaptation Under Fire", will be published by U.S. Naval Institute Books on 13 August 2024. I can't wait for you to be able to read it.

In just one month, my new book The War for Ukraine: Strategy and Adaptation Under Fire will be published by U.S. Naval Institute Books.

I started writing this book just after the start of the large-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Based on a variety of different sources, including my own visits to Ukraine over the past 27 months, my book covers the lessons of the war for other military organisations that will need to transform themselves to be better prepared for modern warfare.

To do this, I have structured the book to explore lessons in two crucial areas: strategy and adaptation.

An important lesson from this war is that strategy really matters! The ability to develop, test and implement strategies that are evidence-based, able to be resourced, founded on appropriate assumptions, and which have clear purpose, is essential to national deterrence, war-making and war-winning capabilities.

The War for Ukraine explores wartime strategy from the perspective of Ukraine and Russia, looking back well before February 2022 for the foundations of the strategies that both nations have adopted and adapted in the past two years. I explore the strategies of the United States and NATO. These external strategies and how they are resourced impact on Ukrainian and Russian strategy, and therefore must be understood in developing an appreciation of how strategy is developed, resourced, executed, adapted and led in the 21st century.

Adaptation is the other key topic in my book. The War for Ukraine examines the foundations for Ukrainian and Russian adaptation through the lens of their programs of military reform that took place in the decade before February 2022. I also explore adaptation at the strategic, operational and tactical levels that has occured during the war, on both sides.

The concept of the adaptation battle is one I have explored at length throughout this war. I also wrote about this subject extensively in War Transformed, my book about 21st century conflict and competition, published by USNI Press in 2022. The second part of my new book covers the array of adaptations that have taken place in Ukraine, and offers recommendations for contemporary military institutions on the kinds of individual and institutional traits required to ensure that they too can be effective at multi-level adaptation in peace and war.

The books examines the war up to the Vilnius NATO summit of 2023. I had to stop writing at some point and get the manuscript to the publisher, and this was the cut off point that I chose. Perhaps in the future I will look at a subsequent book to explore the war from this point onwards.

I have provided below a couple of early reviews for the book:

This wonderful book shows Mick Ryan's excellence as a teacher of military strategy and adaptation in warfare. He's observed carefully and often at close range the choices Ukraine and Russia have made to achieve their objectives in the war. I hope it will be required reading in staff and war colleges, as well as garnering a wide public readership. — Kori Schake, Director of Foreign and Defense Policy, American Enterprise Institute

The War for Ukraine combines deep yet accessible military expertise with admirable moral clarity, and an acute sense of both the geopolitical stakes and human cost of this war. Moving at speed, Mick Ryan cuts through the fogs of war and social media alike to illuminate the operations, tactics and strategy that have shaped the conflict. The lessons he draws from Ukraine's fight, particularly on the need for grand strategic alignment of political, military and economic means and ends, are ones that all democratic leaders must heed if we are to prevail in the conflict against authoritarian regimes.--Benjamin Tallis, Senior Research Fellow, German Council on Foreign Relations

Eschewing the breathless focus on the employment of technology that dominates too much commentary on the Russo-Ukraine War, Mick Ryan valuably tackles the strategic level of the conflict before honing in on how both sides have adapted. Ryan's sound insights will most benefit current and future military professionals who have the grave responsibility of preparing for future warfare.--Heather Venable, USAF Air Command and Staff College

Mick Ryan's book is a solid attempt to paint a comprehensive picture of the first 18-months of Big War at different levels with diverse conclusions worthy of broader attention and consideration. In the process the author managed to highlight the eternal issue of continuity and change in strategy and warfighting using specific examples of Russo-Ukrainian War while constantly reminding that every war is unique and context dependent. I believe this book about the ongoing Ukrainian confrontation with Russia will aid countries which cherish peace and security to quickly learn back the art of strategy and warfighting, which atrophied after the end of the Cold War. --Mykola Bielieskov, National Institute for Strategic Studies in Ukraine

I want to thank all those who have helped in preparing the manuscript including friends and colleagues who have observed and analysed this war, as well as the wonderful staff at USNI Press.

Most importantly, I have been inspired by the courage, resilience and determination of the Ukrainian people - both soldiers and civilians. I hope this book is an adequate reflection of my admiration for the Ukrainian people, how they have defended their nation, and their aspiration to live as a free and prosperous society. My book is dedicated to them.

One final thing: I will be donating all of my royalties from the book to charities and crowd-funding efforts that are supporting the Ukrainian war effort and humanitarian activities for the people of Ukraine.

So, if you buy the book, you will also be supporting Ukraine in its struggle against Russia.

You can order The War for Ukraine at USNI Books and Amazon.