Understanding Hybrid Warfare On The Russian-Ukrainian Conflict

War is one of the events that human civilization generally fears but it cannot be avoided. War events occur not without reason, usually occur because of a dispute between two sides who do not want to succumb to an interest, be it social, political, or economic interests and so on.

Changes in the conditions of the strategic environment in the 21st abase caused many actors to adjust in the face of it, and the end of the cold war brought winds of change in the international order. 

The cold war period synonymous with the use of strategy and military force has experienced a slight decline. the presence of scientific and technological developments, resulting in a change in the method of war from traditional warfare to modern warfare, can be seen and felt in the type of "Hybrid Warfare".      

Hybrid Warfare is basically a modification of the concept of the conventional warfare model by equating all the instruments owned for simultaneous use using conventional power. However, the agreement among thinkers regarding the definition of hybrid warfare has not yet reached a point of agreement among strategic thinkers, and it is even still a conflict in itself.

The absence of a universal definition results in an agreed-upon perception that hybrid warfare is an attempt to distort the circumstances that give rise to a situation between war and peace. 

Meanwhile, the definition of hybrid warfare for the west (NATO) says that hybrid warfare is a picture of the efforts made by Russia in Ukraine in various ways beyond conventional boundaries to achieve the superiority of western countries in conventional aspects.

Simply put, hybrid warfare is a theory of military strategy, the term hybrid warfare was first proposed by Frank Hoffman, which used political warfare and combined conventional warfare, disorderly warfare, and cyber warfare with other methods that affect, such as fake news wars, diplomacy, law fare, and foreign electoral intervention.

By combining kinetic operations with subversive efforts, the aggressor has the intent to avoid attribution or retribution. In addition, hybrid warfare can be used to describe flexible and complex battles pace dynamics that require highly adaptable and resilient responses.

The concept of Hybrid Warfare may not be entirely new, already many practitioners argue that hybrid warfare is as old as war itself. However, Hybrid Warfare has had significant relevance in recent years as states employ non-state and information technology actors to subdue their enemies during or more importantly, in the absence of overt direct armed conflict.

As an asymmetric approach, hybrid warfare continues to seek to achieve large-scale consequences using a variety of simple means, such as by inhibiting enemy military operations or preventing the emergence of popular political support.