Brothers Armed: Military Aspects of the Crisis in Ukraine offers an in-depth look at the state of the military in both Russia and Ukraine, as well as the history, political circumstances and events leading to the annexation of Crimea and outbreak of conflict in eastern Ukraine.
Brothers Armed provides military context for and unprecedented detail about the strategic confrontation between Russia and Ukraine, bringing greater balance and detail, more candor and increased objectivity to a subject fraught with confusion, misunderstanding, and historical animosities.
In this updated and expanded second edition, Brothers Armed builds on the critical analysis presented in the first, examining the military reform efforts of both Russia and Ukraine, the antecedents to Russian intervention in Crimea, the military and political mechanics of the intervention itself, and the nature of and grounds for the subsequent Russian annexation. New essays examine what has transpired in the region since the annexation of Crimea and assess the causes and possible consequences of the ongoing crisis in Ukraine.
Foreword – David M. Glantz, Colonel, US Army (Ret.)
Khrushchev’s Gift: The Questionable Ownership of Crimea – Vasiliy Kashin
The Soviet Inheritance of Ukrainian Armed Forces – Sergey Denisentsev
Neglect and Rot: Degradation of Ukraine’s Military in the Interim Period – Anton Lavrov and Alexey Nikolsky
Hard Lessons Learned: Russian Military Reform up to the Georgian Conflict – Mikhail Barabanov
Changing the Force and Moving Forward After Georgia – Mikhail Barabanov
Little, Green and Polite: The Creation of Russian Special Operations Forces – Alexey Nikolsky
Home of the Black Sea Fleet: History and Disposition of Russian Forces in Crimea – Dmitry Boltenkov
Russian Again: The Military Operation for Crimea – Anton Lavrov
Viewing the Action in Ukraine From the Kremlin’s Windows – Mikhail Barabanov
Civil War in the East: How the Conflict Unfolded Before Minsk I – Anton Lavrov
Aircraft, Tanks and Artillery in the Donbass – Anton Lavrov
Reorganization Under Crisis: Development of Ukraine’s Defense and Security Agencies – Alexey Ramm and Alexey Nikolsky
Rebuilding and Refocusing the Force: Reform and Modernization of the Ukrainian Armed Forces – Vyacheslav Tseluyko
Afterword – Peter B. Zwack, Brigadier General, US Army (Ret.)
Map of Eastern Ukraine
Map of Russian and Ukrainian Combat Units in Crimea
Timeline of Key Events
Acronym Glossary
Contributors
Index