When Roman Horbyk landed in Kyiv earlier this year, he was determined to do his research interviews.
The Swedish-based Ukrainian academic had spent two years investigating how mobile phones were used on the front lines, especially during Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014.
So he had planned a field trip to Ukraine for early 2022, where he planned to interview veterans of the 2014 conflict.
He says he was on a mission. The pandemic had caused numerous delays in its investigation and was determined not to be delayed again.
“Despite warnings and the finding that conflict is imminent, I had to travel and do the interviews,” Horbyk told ABC RN’s Sunday Extra.
He landed safely in the capital of Ukraine on February 21, 2022.
Three days later the Russian invasion of Ukraine began.
An instrument of war
In those early days, Horbyk conducted several interviews as planned. But things changed very quickly.
“When missiles and bombs started falling on Ukrainian cities … I became a refugee myself,” he says.
Swedish-Ukrainian academic Roman Horbyk says his school in Kyiv was bombed on the first day of the Russian invasion. (Supplied)
Horbyk was one of the millions who fled Kyiv. He ended up in Lviv, western Ukraine, where he volunteered with a psychological and medical support unit for refugees.
Although he had traveled to Ukraine to interview people about a historic war, he found himself at the forefront of a new one.
And again, these would mean that you have to spend for these processes.
But this time, his role was very different from what he had been in past Russian-Ukrainian conflicts, Horbyk says.
In 2014, the Ukrainian Armed Forces were “really exhausted,” he says, with only about 6,000 soldiers. The military communication equipment and systems they used were obsolete, barely functioning and inefficient.
But most soldiers owned a cell phone or a smartphone.
“They became exactly the tool that filled that gap,” Horbyk says.
Ukrainian soldiers were already using mobile phones to communicate with their families, commanders and comrades-in-arms. Then they also became an instrument of war.
“Soldiers also used mobile phones for a range of military tasks, such as mapping minefields or intercepting the enemy or even aiming artillery fire.”
In the bombed-out Ukrainian cities, mobile charging points have allowed civilians to continue using their phones. (Reuters: Ahmed Jadallah)
In 2022, Ukrainian forces have had to do things differently, Horbyk says.
The Russians have developed complex radio and electronic warfare systems, including technology to suppress mobile communication up to 100 kilometers away.
So the Ukrainians have adapted, and while they still use smartphones, their technology has come a long way.
“The situation has turned upside down,” Horbyk says.
“Ukrainians are using more effective, modern and secure military communication.
“While the Russians have had to resort to relying on civilian mobile phones that they essentially take as loot from the civilian population in Ukraine,” he says.
The new rules of war
Defense analyst John Arquilla, professor emeritus at the U.S. Naval Graduate School, says cell phones have been critical to Ukraine’s success in the early stages of the war, despite blockchain technology of Russia, because they have allowed civilians to help in the war effort.
Professor Arquilla says that the Ukrainian forces have adopted better strategies than the Russian invading forces. (Supplied)
“The civilian population continues to serve as a kind of body of observers about where the Russians are and where they are moving,” he says.
“Smartphones move information very quickly.”
“This information has allowed Ukrainian forces to maneuver much more effectively in small units against larger Russian formations.”
Despite Ukraine’s ability to hold back Russian invading forces for as long as they have surprised much of the world, Professor Arquilla is not so surprised.
In 2010, he wrote about the new rules of war, which he said would be key to gaining advantage in future battles.
And he says that Ukraine has shown them all successfully.
“The first new rule of war is‘ many and small ’beats‘ few and big ’,” he says.
Professor Arquilla says that Ukrainians fight in small occupations, with units of 8 to 10 soldiers, which is an important advantage.
“They’re much more agile and connected,” he says.
“They have been able to withstand important formations, regiments, forces the size of a battalion tactical group, for long periods.”
Being small also makes Ukrainian forces harder to find, he says.
Small operational units in Ukraine have proved more difficult to find and easier to maneuver than Russian invading forces. (Reuters: Surhii Nuzhnenko)
His second new rule of war is that finding the enemy is more important than flanking him.
“In traditional warfare, you would set up an enemy force and try to move on its flank,” he says.
“But if you’re up against a small, agile opponent who can maneuver on his own, you have to be able to locate them to aim at them.”
“Ukrainians have had a huge advantage in finding Russians because they are bigger and more centralized.”
That is why Professor Arquilla suggests that the support of large arms may not be the best way to help Ukrainian forces.
“I hope they are not seduced by the idea of getting heavy weapons from NATO and the United States. The more heavy artillery and armored vehicles they have, the more vulnerable they will be to Russian weapons,” he says.
A convoy of 65-kilometer-long Russian tanks demonstrated Russia’s military power, but also made it easy for soldiers to find. (Satellite image © 2022 Maxar Technologies via AP)
“The third rule is simply ‘growing swarms of rhythms,'” he says, “and that’s where cell phones play a critical role.”
“If you have these small units and you have information that moves very quickly and helps you target the enemy, you can attack the enemy from many points at once,” he says.
Where from here?
Despite the unofficial civilian “observer body” of Ukraine and the critical role that mobile phones have played so far, the Russians have not pointed to the communication satellites.
Professor Arquilla believes that this is due to the fact that the Russians are also using these communication systems.
But he believes there is another reason.
“Doing so would require actions that would basically be acts of war at the international level, and it would be a very important diplomatic escalation.”
He believes both sides are trying to avoid escalating into a large-scale contact that no one favors.
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For Mr. Horbyk, war is already one he did not want.
He returned to Stockholm after spending 40 days in Ukraine, but says the transition to a “peaceful life” has been incredibly difficult.
“In a way, it was mentally easier to be in Ukraine and share what was happening than to look from afar.”
Many of his friends and family have fled Ukraine, while others have stayed to fight.
Amid his feelings of “total despair,” Mr. Horbyk says he has tried to stay busy and has begun reviewing his fieldwork material.
But the reality facing his country is widespread. Finding meaning has been difficult.
“A lot of things are done in a kind of autopilot mode, like a robot,” he says.
“Part of me died on February 24. It will take a long time to recover, if ever.”
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Posted 1 hour 1 hour agoThursday June 8, 2022 at 7:00 PM, updated 1 hour ago 1 hour agoThursday June 8, 2022 at 7:07 PM