The Art of War Without Uniforms: Ukraine’s Strategic Mastery in the Digital Age

It seems you don't need a suit and tie to be a strategic genius. Once again, Ukraine has outmaneuvered Russia on the military chessboard, delivering a devastating blow to a once-untouchable military power. And it did so without launching a massive offensive. Kyiv knows perfectly well that Moscow currently lacks the capacity to carry out a large-scale attack. That’s why it has opted for a strategy of gradual investment—blow by blow. And those blows, in many cases, have been sheer tactical brilliance.

Ukraine has withstood not only the physical onslaught but the digital one as well. It has managed to neutralize Russia’s propaganda machine—the same one that has poisoned the West for years—with a precision that can only be described as genius. They know every trick, every narrative. And they’ve dismantled it from the inside, like someone cutting the strings of an enemy puppet.

Volodymyr Zelensky, the president with a background in comedy, has once again proven that his leadership is no media fluke. His tactical acumen has far outshone the man many once considered the grand strategist of contemporary geopolitics. Putin no longer looks like a cold KGB spy, but rather a relic—an outdated bureaucrat stuck in a past that no longer exists. His army, exposed and clumsy, is far from the war machine that once inspired fear.

A sluggish ground force that failed to take Ukraine in days. A digital intelligence unit unable to discredit Zelensky or divide his people. And a military muscle that seems rusted, in desperate need of young blood, North Korean reinforcements, and Iranian advisors. In the 21st century, Russia is still fighting with tools from the last one.

Then came Operation Spiderweb.

The latest triumph of Ukrainian intelligence. A fleet of high-tech drones managed to infiltrate Russian territory, approach strategic points in its air force, and launch a surgical strike that has been described as Russia’s Pearl Harbor. The result: nearly 40% of Russia’s military aircraft destroyed. A brutal blow, with no civilian casualties, that has forced Russia—grudgingly—to sit at the diplomatic table. A regrouping? A desperate attempt to avoid further humiliation? Whatever it is, it was Ukraine that forced Moscow against the ropes.

Not even Trump—the self-proclaimed “great negotiator”—managed to end the war in two days, as he had promised. Nor did Russia crush Ukraine in a week, as so many had predicted. On the contrary, while Trump tried to expose Zelensky to Western media, the European Union closed ranks around Kyiv. Because Europe understands that what's at stake goes beyond Ukraine: it’s a new wave of regionalization that will reshape European territory, North Africa, and the Middle East. And in that arena, Russian intelligence no longer uses tanks—it uses propaganda and nationalism to divide from within.

But this time, the cards are on the table. And many of them—contrary to what Trump believed—are now in Zelensky’s hands. The Ukrainian people have developed a compact, efficient military intelligence force that Europe itself lacks. Their proximity to a belligerent Russia has transformed them into a kind of European Israel: a small country successfully standing up to a colossal enemy.

Everything suggests that Europe needs Ukraine more than ever. Not just for defense, but to project power. Ukraine has become a key strategic ally—a fundamental piece in the future of European security, not only within its borders but far beyond them.