Mick Ryan, AM Profile picture
Strategist, Leader & Author | Retd Army Major General | Senior Fellow for Military Studies @LowyInstitute | @CSIS | Futura Doctrina substack | #BannedInRussia
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Nov 18 8 tweets 2 min read
Today, the war in #Ukraine – or at least the time since the large-scale Russian invasion of 2022 – reaches the 1000-day mark. Besides reflecting on the tremendous sacrifices of the Ukrainian people since February 2022, the 1000-day point permits taking stock of the situation. 1/8 🧵 🇺🇦Image 2/ Even though the situation for #Ukraine at the 1000-day mark is forbidding, the trajectory of this war is not cast in steel. To prevent continued Russian gains on the battlefield, and to stop any attempt at forcing Ukraine to the negotiate under unfavourable terms, what changes might be required?
Nov 11 10 tweets 3 min read
In the past few days, speculation about a potential ‘Ukraine solution’ from the incoming Trump administration has accelerated. Here, I examine possible components of this, or other, 'peace plans' for #Ukraine. 1/10 🧵🇺🇦 Image 2/ A report in The Telegraph describes an evolved plan that includes a buffer zone, freezing the conflict, Russia retaining currently held territory, ‘pumping Ukraine full of US weapons’ to deter Russia and deferring Ukraine’s NATO membership for years.
Oct 22 10 tweets 3 min read
It has become increasingly likely that North Korean combat troops will appear in #Ukraine soon. While there remain many unknowns on this subject, the deployment of North Korean troops raises many different potential issues for Russia, Ukraine and NATO. 1/10 🧵🇺🇦 Image 2/ On 13 October, President Zelenskyy announced the anticipated deployment of North Korea troops’ to Ukraine. In the past 48 hours, the head of NATO, Mark Rutte, described how “North Korea sending troops to fight alongside Russia in Ukraine would mark a significant escalation.”
Oct 16 5 tweets 2 min read
President Zelenskyy has presented his Victory Plan to the Ukrainian parliament. It has 5 elements: Ukraine to join NATO; defense, including long-range strikes; deterring Russian aggression; economic development; and, and post-war security structures. 1/5 🧵 🇺🇦
kyivindependent.com/zelensky-victo…Image 2/ Apparently there are also three classified elements of the Victory Plan. These will be briefed separately to lawmakers. They were probably briefed to foreign leaders during Zelenskyy’s recent trip to the UK, France, Italy and Germany.
Oct 15 8 tweets 3 min read
China has commenced #JointSword2024B. In the past day, 153 PLA aircraft & 14 PLAN ships operated around Taiwan. 111 aircraft entered Taiwan’s ADIZ. This is a record high in PLA activity. What might the People’s Liberation Army be seeking to achieve, and what might Western intelligence agencies might learn? 1/8 🧵Image 2/ Just last week, Taiwan celebrated its national day. Taiwan’s President Lai Ching-te gave an address on 10 October that included a statement that China "has no right to represent Taiwan" and that his mission as president would be to "resist annexation or encroachment upon our sovereignty."
Oct 13 7 tweets 3 min read
The Australian senate recently released a report into support for #Ukraine. Overall, this is a quality report that describes many of Ukraine’s needs as well as Australia’s capacity to assist. 1/7 🧵 🇺🇦 Image 2/ Support in the Australian community for Ukraine remains very high. As the 2024 Lowy Poll found:

“Australian public support for assisting Ukraine remains high. The vast majority of Australians (86%) continue to support ‘keeping strict sanctions on Russia’, steady from 2023. Eight in ten (80%) support ‘admitting Ukrainian refugees into Australia’, down four points from last year. Three-quarters (74%) support ‘providing military aid to Ukraine’, steady on last year.”

poll.lowyinstitute.org/report/2024/se…
Sep 23 17 tweets 4 min read
This week’s strikes on Russian munitions storage facilities are part of the maturing Ukrainian strategic strike campaign. Long-range strike has been an important strategic adaptation for the Ukrainians since 2022. There is much other nations can learn from this. 1/17 🧵 Image 2/ To inform this exploration of lessons, we need to understand the components and functions of the Ukrainian strike complex.
Sep 11 19 tweets 4 min read
In the past 24 hours, it has been reported that the Biden administration has finally submitted a strategy for supporting #Ukraine to the U.S. Congress. What is the current U.S. strategy for Ukraine, what might the new strategy look like and will it influence on the trajectory of the war? 1/19 🧵Image 2/ Currently, there is no published U.S. strategy specifically for the war in #Ukraine. After 31 months, the Biden administration is still using crisis management, speeches and slogans such as ‘for as long as it takes’ rather than developing and executed a clear, well resourced strategy for Ukraine.
Aug 31 11 tweets 4 min read
I have posted my weekly update with events in #Ukraine, Russia, and the Pacific theatre, as well as my recommended readings. Some key points in the thread below. (Image: @DefenceU) 1/11 🧵 Image 2/ In Russia, Ukraine’s Kursk campaign continues although advances in the past week have been fewer than in the initial part of their post-break through exploitation operations. Russia’s response has gathered momentum.
Aug 27 14 tweets 3 min read
The Ukrainian attack into #Kursk, now into its 3rd week, was a tactical & operational surprise for the Russians. But the Ukrainians also surprised their supporters in the West. And part of the reason is that many Western nations can’t conceive of such audacity in the modern world. 1/14 🧵engelsbergideas.com/notebook/ukrai… 2/ Ukraine also surprised their supporters in the West in large part because #Ukraine deliberately withheld details of the #Kursk attack to preserve operational security, avoid second guessing by talkative bureaucrats in the West, and avoid the inflated expectations of the build up to their failed 2023 counteroffensive.
Aug 25 16 tweets 5 min read
Throughout the #Ukraine war, adaptation has been a critical national & battlefield function for #Ukraine, and for the Russians. This is a process that pulses & pauses, and is distributed unevenly throughout combat units & the bureaucratic institutions of state. What observations about strategic adaptation might be made of the #Kursk offensive? 1/16 🧵🇺🇦Image 2/ The capacity to learn and adapt is crucial to generating advantage in wartime. Given the pace of contemporary military operations, when advantage is generated, it can be quite transitory or rapidly overtaken by enemy counter adaption. Therefore, learning and adaptation must be an ongoing endeavour. One of the most important levels of learning in war is that which takes place at the strategic level.
Aug 22 6 tweets 2 min read
This provides further disturbing evidence (on top of the tens of thousands of Russian war crimes) that unnecessary cruelty is a systemic part of Russia’s invasion of #Ukraine and not isolated, individual acts. There are institutional incentives for the Russians to behave this way (medals, etc). Putin and Gerasimov are ultimately culpable. 1/6 🧵🇺🇦 2/ This is vastly different from the conduct of the Ukrainian military through the war. As I examine in my new book, The War for Ukraine, fighting a ‘just war’ is a key element of Ukraine’s war #strategy. As Zelenskyy noted last week, in #Kursk “we must fight by the rules.”
Aug 19 24 tweets 6 min read
Ukrainian objectives for the #Kursk operation have gained some recent clarity with statements by the Ukrainian President, as well as other Ukrainian officials. What are these objectives, and what are the Russian options to respond to the Ukrainian Kursk campaign? 1/24 🧵🇺🇦 Image 2/ The first Ukrainian objective is political. Zelenskyy has described how "we’ve already expanded and will continue to expand the circle of those who support a just end to this war. It's essential that Ukraine enters this fall even stronger than before." Ukraine must be stronger as the year tapers off into Winter & it must also be seen as such by its supporters and those who support Russia.
Aug 15 19 tweets 5 min read
Ukraine is continuing to push forward in #Kursk while also conducting a difficult defensive campaign in the Donbas. On the Russian side, the Russians are continuing to push on their main effort – the advance towards Pokrovsk – while seeking to redeploy forces from other areas to stem the advance of Ukrainian forces in Kursk. 1/19 🧵🇺🇦Image 2/ Both sides are moving forward while at the same time sustaining terrible damage elsewhere. The remainder of this year, and possibly the trajectory of the war, will be determined by who blinks first and decides that focussing on the losses they are sustaining is more important than the gains they are making elsewhere. This is the ultimate expression of Clausewitz’s battle of wills.
Aug 12 20 tweets 5 min read
The Ukrainian operation in Kursk is almost one week into execution. As the Russians slowly but surely redeploy forces to seal off the breach in their border and attempt to push the Ukrainians back into #Ukraine, it is worth pondering the options the Ukrainians might have once they reach their limit of exploitation. 1/20 🧵🇺🇦Image 2/ Like all military operations, this will have been planned as a multiphase operation, including the prelude shaping operations. These would have included intelligence collection, force preparation, deception, operational security, logistics and other aspects necessary to prepare the Ukrainian force for battle.
Aug 10 22 tweets 6 min read
In the past few days, #Ukraine and its offensive into #Kursk has demonstrated again how surprise plays a major role in human conflict. What role has surprise played in this war, and how did Ukraine surprise Russia...again? 1/22 🧵 🇺🇦 Image 2/ Surprising the opponent is an important method of seizing the initiative on the battlefield or at the strategic level. But the impacts of surprise are transient. As such, exploitation must be executed quickly against surprised – and shocked – enemy forces before they can regain coherency in their command and control and respond effectively.
Aug 8 5 tweets 1 min read
Maybe we can finally dispense with the ‘transparent battlefield’ fallacy. War’s enduring feature, as Clausewitz described, is that it is a human endeavour and that it is full of uncertainty, friction, emotion and surprise. 1/5 🧵 2/ The level of strategic, operational and tactical deception shown by the Ukrainians during the planning, assembling forces and ongoing execution of the #Kursk operation has been superb.
Aug 8 23 tweets 5 min read
Now that we have had a couple of days to observe the new Ukrainian cross-border attack into Kursk, I wanted to offer a quick assessment of what we know, as well as Ukraine's potential objectives and the challenges it faces. 1/23 🧵( (Image: @DefenceU) Image 2/ Surprise is an important continuity in human competition and warfare. The aim is to shock an adversary and overwhelm them when they are their weakest or when they least expect it. That shock, and the accompanying break down in enemy cohesion & ability to effectively respond, can then be used to seize ground and destroy enemy formations.
Aug 6 5 tweets 1 min read
A good thread from @RALee85 on the new Ukrainian operation on the Kursk axis. Given defensive pressures elsewhere, particularly with Russia's advances towards Pokrovsk and Toretsk, the strategic rationale for this operation at this time is difficult to fathom. 1/5 🧵 2/ One potential driver is political. The government of #Ukraine want to shift momentum and the strategic narrative, and have directed such an operation.
Jul 29 11 tweets 3 min read
“The threats the United States faces are the most serious and most challenging the nation has encountered since 1945 and include the potential for near-term major war.” The report from U.S. National Defense Strategy Commission has been released. Some highlights. 1/11 🧵

rand.org/content/dam/ra…Image 2/ On China - “The Commission finds that, in many ways, China is outpacing the United States and has largely negated the U.S. military advantage in the Western Pacific through two decades of focused military investment. Without significant change by the United States, the balance of power will continue to shift in China’s favor. “
Jul 29 18 tweets 5 min read
In the last 48 hours, #Ukraine conducted one of its longest-range strategic strikes yet. Today, an update on what is occurring with Ukraine’s multiple strike campaigns, their key functions and the challenges that Ukraine will face in strike operations against Russia for the remainder of 2024 and into 2025. 1/18 🧵🇺🇦Image 2/ The weekend strikes are claimed to have damaged a Russian Tu-22M3 long-range supersonic bomber at the Olenya airfield, south of Murmansk. This particular airfield lies about 1800 kilometres from Ukraine and is close to Russia’s border with northern Finland.