Ukraine War

Ukraine: The Resistance Operating Concept in Action

Reinvented and widened, arguably the US first experienced it in Vietnam. Is it just a fancy name for an old strategy?

Members of the Maquis in La Trésorerie (a hamlet part of Wimille, near Boulogne-sur-Mer, France. Image credit: By Donald I. Grant, Department of National Defence — Collection of Library and Archives Canada, PA-166396, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=800435

The Resistance Operating Concept (ROC) is a military strategy that was first used during the Russian annexation of Ukraine in 2014. It is a form of asymmetric warfare that relies on small, highly mobile units using guerrilla tactics to fight a larger, conventionally armed force. But beyond that, it aims to harness almost the whole population of a subjugated country in a holistic resistance effort.

This public involvement considerably assists and amplifies the efforts of regular and special forces.

Is it just a fancy name, recycling old ideas?

The requirement

The ROC is said to provide a template for smaller states to counter larger powers and was formalised in 2013 in response to Russia’s conflict with Georgia in 2008.

The ROC was designed to assist Nordic and Baltic countries to conduct ‘resistance operations’ in the event of an invasion or occupation by Russian military forces.

Almost all observers of the Eastern Europe security situation will acknowledge…