The central focus of the master's thesis is the analysis of the application of Russian ground forces’ military doctrine on the Donbas theatre of operations through accessible video material as part of two representative case studies: the battle for Bakhmut-Soledar-Siversk and the battle for Avdiivka. The war in Ukraine represents a return to older concepts of warfare, such as attrition and positional warfare, which is also reflected in the changed use of maneuver and fire support. At the tactical level, the Russian ground forces have strived to establish methods for combat operations from their military doctrine, but have been forced to adapt them to the conditions on the battlefield. The Donbas theatre of operations has been saturated with the use of unmanned aerial vehicles, anti-tank systems and weapons that favor defense and thus prevent the development of maneuver. Some of the previously established weapons systems and concepts are therefore called into question. Unmanned aerial vehicles and electronic warfare systems enable easy reconnaissance, real-time information transmission, and control over force movements, transforming the battlefield into a transparent zone. Such technological solutions are radically changing the way of warfare and, consequently, military doctrine, which poses a major problem for the Russian ground forces, which planned rapid and deep maneuver, to effectively execute their combat operations.
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