Russia’s almost bloodless takeover and annexation of the occupied territory shocked Ukraine and the West, intensifying the study of how to build a total defense plan that included not only the military, but also the civilian population .
But Putin’s wider war against Ukraine launched in February has been his proving ground.
The doctrine, also known as ROC, provides an innovative and unconventional approach to total war and defense that has guided not only Ukraine’s military, but also involved the country’s civilian population as part of a concerted resistance against the Russian army.
“It’s all hands on deck in terms of comprehensive defense of the government of Ukraine,” said retired Lt. Gen. Mark Schwartz, who was commander of Special Operations Command Europe during the doctrine’s development. “They are using every resource and they are also using some very unconventional means to disrupt the military of the Russian Federation.”
Planning a national resistance
However, outnumbered, outgunned, and outgunned, Ukraine has been fighting a Russian army it thought would sweep through the vast majority of the country in a matter of weeks, if not days.
“This is a way to turn around a first world power,” Schwartz said. “It’s amazing to see, despite the incredible loss of life and sacrifice, what the will to resist and the determination to resist can do.”
In a series of recent attacks and explosions on Russian positions in Crimea, Kevin D. Stringer, a retired Army colonel who led the resistance concept development team, sees signs of their use.
“Because you can’t do it conventionally, you would use special operations forces and such [forces] would need resistance support (intelligence, resources, logistics) to access these regions.”
A Ukrainian government report shared with CNN acknowledged that Ukraine was behind the attacks on Russian bases and an ammunition depot. The strikes, far behind enemy lines, were beyond the range of weapons the US and others have publicly sent to Ukraine, and videos of the explosions did not appear to show any incoming missiles or drones. Russia blamed sabotage or detonating munitions for the explosions.
“A high probability would say it’s very plausible [the ROC] principles are being played out in real warfare right now,” Stringer said.
In early April, General Richard Clarke, commander of US Special Operations Command, told a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing that the US had helped train Ukrainian resistance companies integrated with special forces during the last 18 months. When asked if he was seeing some of the success of that training in the current conflict, Clarke was blunt in his response.
“Yes, Senator, we are.”
Resistance in Ukraine
Early in the conflict, the Ukrainian government created a website that explains different ways to resist. The site describes ways to use nonviolent action, such as boycotting public events, labor strikes, and even how to use humor and satire. The goal is to disrupt the ability of pro-Russian authorities to govern while reminding the population of Ukraine’s rightful sovereignty. The doctrine of resistance also suggests violent actions, such as using Molotov cocktails, deliberately setting fires, and putting chemicals in gas tanks to sabotage enemy vehicles.
The doctrine also calls for a broad messaging campaign to control the narrative of the conflict, prevent an occupier’s message from taking hold, and hold the population together. Videos of Ukrainian attacks on Russian tanks, often to a soundtrack of pop or heavy metal music, have gone viral, as have clips of Ukrainian soldiers rescuing stray animals. Intentionally or not, it becomes part of the resistance, allowing Ukraine to frame Western media headlines in its favor and often humanizing Ukrainian service members in a way that the Russian military has failed to do.
At the head of the resistance is Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky, who has not let the conflict fade from view with late-night speeches and frequent international appearances. His visits near the front lines make headlines around the world, while Russian President Vladimir Putin is rarely seen outside the Kremlin or the spa town of Sochi.
The ongoing barrage of messages has spurred a wave of support abroad and successfully lobbied Western governments to supply Ukraine with more arms and ammunition.
Resilience and Resistance
In general, the concept of resilience provides a framework for increasing a country’s resilience, which is its ability to withstand external pressures, and resilience planning, defined as a country-wide effort to restore sovereignty to occupied territories
“Resilience is the strength of society in times of peace that becomes resistance in times of war against the aggressor,” explained Dalia Bankauskaite, a fellow at the Center for European Policy Analysis who has studied resistance planning in Lithuania
Rather than providing each country with the same set of plans, the doctrine is designed to fit each country’s population, skills and terrain. It does not seek to create or support an insurgency; its goal is to establish a government-sanctioned force to conduct activities against a foreign occupier with the goal of restoring sovereignty.
At first, only Estonia, Lithuania and Poland expressed real enthusiasm for the new doctrine. But after Russia’s near-bloodless takeover and annexation of Crimea shocked Ukraine and the West in 2014, interest in the method of resistance grew rapidly.
Since its inception, at least 15 countries have participated in some form of training on this resistance doctrine, according to Nicole Kirschmann, a spokeswoman for Special Operations Command Europe, where it was developed.
In mid-November, as the Biden administration sounded the first public warnings about the potential for a Russian invasion of Ukraine, Hungary hosted a conference on the concept of Operation Resistance. The commander of Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces was at the conference, Kirschmann told CNN, as well as nearly a dozen other countries.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine has only increased interest in the concept.
“The Baltic states, in particular, are actively talking in their parliaments about implementing the ROC at the national level,” according to a US official.
Resistance in the Baltics
In May, nearly three months after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Lithuania’s parliament adopted a new civil resistance strategy that is much broader than strictly anti-occupation resistance.
Martynas Bendikas, a spokesman for the country’s Ministry of National Defense, said preparing for resistance includes developing the will to defend the country, improving citizens’ military and non-military knowledge and skills, and more as part of ‘a national defense.
The existence of the doctrine of resistance and parts of the planning around resistance is intentionally public, Stringer explained, with the intention of acting as a deterrent against a potential attack, one more aimed at the preferred hybrid warfare of Russia rather than traditional military and nuclear deterrence. But the details of the plans and the organization within a country are tightly controlled.
For Estonia, a country of about 1.3 million people that borders Russia to the northwest, civil resistance has always been part of the defense plan.
“There is no other option for all Estonians,” said Rene Toomse, a spokesman for the all-volunteer Estonian Defense League. “Either you fight for independence if someone attacks you – if Russia attacks you – or you just die.”
Estonia regularly updates and develops its defense plans, integrating its standing army with its general population and volunteer forces, which Toomse says have seen an increase in applications since the beginning of Russia’s invasion.
Estonian officials have studied the war in Ukraine to learn lessons about what has worked well against Russia and where Ukraine’s resilience could improve. Toomse says that Estonians remember Soviet rule well, and those too young to remember it are taught in school.
Ukraine has excelled in winning the information campaign, Toomse notes, using media releases on multiple platforms, a president who has become a vocal international figure, and a constant flow of information about how well the forces are fighting. ‘Ukraine, “although they are not emphasizing their own losses”.
But Toomse insists that Estonia, if faced with an invasion, would be more active in any occupied territory, using small, well-armed and well-trained units. “I imagine we can do a lot more damage behind enemy lines than Ukraine has done,” Toomse said. “All logistics, all convoys, will be constantly under attack.”