And that’s it for the second day at our Combat Engineer & Logistics event in Poland. 

Presentation topics ranged from disaster relief planning to how to stop the Russians from manoeuvring around fortifications and how to bring in civil society to the defence of a country undergoing a full-scale conflict. 

One of the most popular presentations was delivered by Colonel Bryan Mialkowsky, from NATO Allied Command. Col. Mialkowsky presented his analysis of how Ukraine has enhanced its fighting abilities. According to Col. Mialkowsky, this was done by the cooperation between the civilian and military worlds.

 Col. Mialkowsky contended that the military has effectively utilised civilian infrastructure for military needs after the full-scale invasion. In the infrastructure arena, Ukraine has used highways as runways for Ukrainian aircraft and the armed forces have also used railways to transport forces close to the frontline.

Ukrainian infrastructure is not the only asset to the armed forces. But the civilian population is a crucial aid to the military. Not only through taxation, which allows Ukraine to keep fighting and procuring weapons but through the actual deployment of civilian experts on the frontline. 

These civilian experts accompany armed personnel to frontline positions in order to restore communications, the water supply, and power to communities whose infrastructure was damaged or destroyed.  

Yet, the infrastructure which Ukraine relies on is a constant target for Russia thus forcing the Ukrainians to adapt. And adapt they have through the distribution of water purification units and energy facilities, ensuring that if one facility is damaged or destroyed, it is not catastrophic 

Col. Mialkowsky stated we have much to learn from the Ukrainians and that we are fighting now to protect our countries both in the case of an outbreak of war in the future and against the hybrid threats the West faces at this current moment.