Vladimir Putin may be mocked as a pound shop Napoleon, but his attempts to cut the cost of his war on Ukraine have changed the face of modern warfare.
While Donald Trump bombs Iran with billions of dollars worth of high-tech cruise missiles, in Ukraine, Russia has switched to home-made budget versions, used at scale, with devastating results.
Enormous missile and drone swarms are overwhelming defences and bombarding cities across the country, offering a horrifying insight into how Russia could fight a war – if it ever came to it – against Nato.
Now it is mass and scale that matter – an approach which until recently, the West had sidelined in favour of fewer, more exquisite systems. Russia has had four years of learning adversaries’ weaknesses – and how to overwhelm their defences.
Shorts
