1 year ago
49
At its root, war is very simple. To destroy the enemy, you need two things: knowing where to shoot, and being able to shoot at it.
When Russia began its all-out invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, one of the few advantages that Ukraine enjoyed from the outset was in military intelligence—aka knowing where to shoot. There are two factors that stood out.
The first was the role of Western intelligence. Western intelligence proved its value through extremely accurate predictions of Russian invasion plans and intentions in the early days of the conflict. Western spy satellites provide Ukraine with high-resolution images of Russian positions multiple times per day, while Russian satellites reportedly only pass over Ukraine once every two weeks.
The second factor is very active partisan movement in occupied Ukrainian territories. Ukrainian partisans have conducted spectacular raids, successfully attacking airfields, bridges, and armored trains. But the quiet work of obtaining intel on what time Russian officers congregate at the naval headquarters in Sevastopol, or marking where ammunition is carried once offloaded from trains and relaying those coordinates to Ukrainian intelligence officers may be some of their safest yet most valuable activities.
However, knowing where to strike is only half the equation.
