THE STRATEGIC IMPORTANCE OF CITIES IN THE ASPECT OF WAR IN UKRAINE

Abstract

Russia, which for many years has been recognised as the second military power in the world,launched a strike against Ukraine on 24 February 2022. This was to be a very quick and efficientoperation intended to demonstrate Russia’s military power and effectiveness. Most expertspredicting potential wars were in agreement that future military operations were all about theneed to forego costly operations, following the principle of winning wars with limited costs.The anticipated type of future war is one of hybrid conflict with an emphasis on the sphere ofinformation, psychological and cyber operations and the clash of new technologies. Unacceptablecosts are primarily the lives of civilians and soldiers. A future military operation is expected tocomprise combat operations conducted in a dynamic, precise and systemic manner with the useof modern military technology.Nonetheless, nothing of the sort has happened; it has been more than a year since the conflicthas begun and its nature considerably differs from all predictions of the assumptions. Cities havebecome the most desirable battle space, which as a consequence resulted in many casualties of warand the devastation of Ukraine’s infrastructure. With this in mind, the primary objective of theresearch was identifying factors that contribute to conducting military operations in built-up areasand outlining pertinent considerations for effective operations in urban areas in the context of theongoing conflict in Ukraine.The main research problem formulated for the purposes of the research being carried out wasexpressed in the form of the following question: Why are urban areas so important in the ongoingconflict in Ukraine, and what are the specifics and factors that affect the effectiveness of operations inbuilt-up areas?For needs of the research it was assumed that cities and built-up areas, as political-administrative,economic, industrial and cultural centres, are gaining in importance. They often serve as nodes ofrailways, roads, airports and seaports and the location of critical infrastructure facilities of the stateand the region. Cities are home to large reserves of skilled human reserves, food, raw materials andfinished industrial products. Moreover, they play an important role in the functioning of the stateas a whole. The ongoing conflict in Ukraine shows that maintaining at all costs the urban complexesthat assure the appropriate functioning of the state (public administration, media, energy, etc.) can determine the success of military operations. This may be confirmed by conclusions drawn froman analysis of recent conflicts of the second half of the 20th and early 21st centuries, which indicatethat military operations in a built-up area are becoming dominant.