Oleksiy Danilov is convinced that people who do not believe in Victory have no place in power and command

The war inUkraine has changed over the past year and a half and will be significantlydifferent from the situation in the spring of 2022. During this period, theUkrainian army has come a long way, which in other cases takes more than ageneration, and the war forces the state and the army to learn seven keylessons.

OleksiyDanilov, Secretary of the National Security and Defence Council (NSDC) ofUkraine, wroteabout this in his op-ed for the Ukrayinska Pravda media outlet.

Accordingto the head of the NSDC, the world has changed, and the changes areaccelerating. According to him, Russia's war against Ukraine has launched aprocess of global transformation.

"Weare forced to live in conditions of uncertainty and unpredictability, when noforecasts about the course of the war, the effectiveness of sanctions, or theeffectiveness of international security mechanisms work. Ukraine and the worldare facing a war of a fundamentally new type - a bizarre hybrid of trenchtactics and network technologies multiplied by the frantic dynamics ofchange," Danilov wrote.

The NSDCsecretary is convinced that the war in 2023 is fundamentally different from theone in 2022, and "Ukraine this year is a completely different country thanlast year." He noted that the Ukrainian Defence Forces today and yesterdayare a qualitatively different army, and "the speed of change matters, theone who is braver, more creative and innovative wins".

Accordingto Danilov, history has proven that free societies progress, and slave statesdo not compete. He wonders: "If the Russians failed in a lightning war,why should they succeed in a protracted one?"

"Thebasis for defeat has not disappeared. There is a competition of wills andtechnologies on the battlefield, and in almost two years of war, the Ukrainianarmy has come a long way in this regard, which in other cases takes more thanone generation. Now the Ukrainian Defence Forces are writing new combatmanuals, laying down theories and practices of a new type of warfare, andlearning important lessons," Oleksiy Danilov said.

The NSDCSecretary went on to list seven lessons for the state that the current war isforcing it to learn:

Lesson one. Will is the basis of the struggle. Confidencein Victory and the value of Freedom is an absolute imperative. People who donot believe in the Victory have no place in power and command.

Lesson two. The formula for sustainable peace is theformula of modern weapons, which is based on the power of the national defenceindustry. Since the beginning of the war, Ukraine has not only maintained itsproduction capacities, but every month we are increasing the number and rangeof weapons. More to come.

Lesson three. Science and technology are the foundation ofthe state. For example, the highest qualification of Ukrainian IT specialistshelps the Defence Forces to make up for the difference in Russian numbers withUkrainian quality every day, and UAV engineers and designers have created a newkind of troops.

Lesson four. Ukrainian military science. The experience ofwar and the knowledge gained through hard work allow us to create a uniqueUkrainian military school and conduct training according to the "Ukrainianstandard". In the very near future, NATO will not have units more capablethan Ukrainian ones.

Lesson five. "Anti-Budapest". No vague securityguarantees, only agreements ratified at the parliamentary level with a clearalgorithm of actions and an approved nomenclature of military assistance.Ukraine has already begun the process of preparing to conclude bilateralsecurity agreements.

Lesson six. Mobilisation based on prepared reserves and aclear accounting system. Today, the state knows more about each of itsconscripts than ever before.

Lesson seven. Rigid pragmatism in defending nationalinterests and respect for the interests of allies, friends and partners.

On 1November, the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, ValeriyZaluzhnyi, publishedan article in The Economist in which he noted that the war in Ukraine wasentering a dangerous positional stage. According to the general, this stagewill benefit Russia, as it will allow it to restore its military power, whichwill threaten the Ukrainian army and the existence of the state itself.

In hisopinion, to get out of this stage, Ukraine needs key military capabilities andtechnologies and named five main priorities to address current problems.

Zaluzhny'sarticle intensifiedthe debate in the US Congress on whether to continue providing militaryassistance to Ukraine.

The Office of the President of Ukraine statedthat it is not advisablefor generals to comment openly to the media on the situation at the front.President Zelenskyy himself said that the situation on the frontline is not astalemate and Ukraine should not give up.