The reality of war: when survival becomes a matter of chance, not strategy

Modern warfare has taken on a form of chaos, where survival on the front line increasingly depends not on sound planning or resources but on sheer chance. Injuries that render a soldier unable to return to combat sometimes become their only chance to stay alive. This is neither fiction nor exaggeration – it is the harsh reality we face every day.

Command is crossing the bounds of reason: artillerymen are being sent into assaults because “there are no shells.” So will medics soon be sent into trenches because “there’s no infantry” left to save?

This is not tactics – it is self-destruction. And it is happening under the guise of loud rhetoric about “heroism” and “necessity.”

Orders like “regain lost positions” sound simple and impressive, especially from rear headquarters. But those who issue these orders have no idea what it means to hold a perimeter defense, to beg for fire support, or to desperately wait for an evacuation that never comes.

This is not strategy, nor is it military art. It is a brutal disregard for the realities of the front.

We are losing people. Every day. Pointlessly and without results. And instead of honestly admitting failures and seeking new approaches, we are being fed illusions of control over the situation.

Key problems:

1. Ignoring the realities of the front. Decisions are made by people who have no real understanding of the situation.

2. Lack of accountability. It’s easy to send people to their deaths when you remain in the rear.

3. Degradation of military potential. Constant losses of skilled personnel without efforts to preserve them are leading to catastrophe.

This is not “heroism”—this is the systematic destruction of our own army.

Silence will not change reality. We must stop hiding behind slogans and start acknowledging mistakes. Otherwise, we will lose everything—not just positions, but the army itself.

Photograph: City of Hirnyk, Donetsk oblast. September 2024. Stabilization point of the Ulf medical service.

Currently occupied.

Alina Mykhailova