The Wet Flank of the Russia-Ukraine War – Lessons for Modern Naval Warfare

#GIDSstatement 12/2024 I 4. November 2024 I Autor: Sebastian Bruns I Foto: Alexey Victorovich Schekinov

Russia’s brutal, illegal and escalatory war against Ukraine clearly is a land conflict, as the images on social media, the TV evening news and even many pundits have impressed upon us. Yet, the conflict also holds important naval and seapower implications, ranging from the operational theatre of war in the Black Sea to other focus areas such as the Baltic Sea and the High North, where revisionist powers such as Russia and the West meet at or below sea. Strategic learnings should be studied in earnest.

About the author: Sebastian Bruns is a Kiel-based seapower and naval strategy expert with a wide range of expertise in maritime security and defense policy. He works as a Senior Researcher at the Institute for Security Policy at Kiel University. Previously, he was the inaugural McCain-Fulbright Distinguished Visiting Professor at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland (USA) and a Congressional staffer in Washington, D.C., handling then-Rep. Todd Young’s defense and military legislative affairs. He also was a non-resident senior associate at the Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS) from November 2021 to July 2024.