The New Total War

From the revolutionary use of drones to staged coups, child abductionand psychological warfare, the war in Ukraine is like no other. It is a newform of total war, combining traditional military force with all thenon-military tools of the Russian state. The 2022 invasion was just the nextstage of a conflict that Russia has been fighting since 2005, using all thetactics at its disposal to control Ukraine’s politics and wreak havoc. Combining over a decade of research, astute analysis and powerfulstories from the front line, and including striking photographs of the peopleand scenes he encountered along the way, Bob Seely has written theauthoritative guide to this new form of conflict. Travelling extensivelythroughout Ukraine, Seely meets figures such as Panoushka, the sniper whocontinues to fight despite the loss of her fiancé, and Ksenia, theseventeen-year-old who journeyed through Russia searching for her abductedyounger brother. Above all, Seely argues that understanding Moscow’s new totalwar is critical because Russia considers itself at war with the West as well asUkraine, directing some of the tactics used there against us. Insightful, gripping and at times moving, this book is essentialreading for anyone who wants to understand the unconventional methods Russiaand other authoritarian states will use to challenge the West for globalsupremacy and undermine our beliefs, power and influence.