Ukraine’s ‘super soldiers’ bust stereotypes of what ‘lethal’ looks like
Ukraine’s military has grown fourfold since Russia’s full-scale invasion began three years ago, holding off a much bigger force with soldiers who have gone from civilian to battle-ready in just weeks.
Their success on the battlefield, where cheap drones are taking out tank formations, has forced a rethink of what a lethal ground-combat force actually looks like.
“There's often super soldiers, and super soldiers are a function of training and discipline and how you adapt people to different combinations of combined arms,” Ben Jensen, a senior fellow at the Center for International and Strategic Studies, said during an event Thursday. “And I think that innovation right there—that rapidly being able to turn civilians off the street into some of the most lethal fighting formations we've ever seen.”