New Total War

Fromthe revolutionary use of drones to staged coups, child abduction and psychologicalwarfare, the war in Ukraine is like no other. It is a new form of total war, combiningtraditional military force with all the non-military tools of the Russian state.The 2022 invasion was just the next stage of a conflict that Russia has beenfighting since 2005, using all the tactics at its disposal to control Ukraine'spolitics and wreak havoc.Combiningover a decade of research, astute analysis and powerful stories from the frontline, and including striking photographs of the people and scenes heencountered along the way, Bob Seely has written the authoritative guide tothis new form of conflict. Travelling extensively throughout Ukraine, Seelymeets figures such as Panoushka, the sniper who continues to fight despite theloss of her fiance, and Ksenia, the seventeen-year-old who journeyed throughRussia searching for her abducted younger brother. Above all, Seely argues thatunderstanding Moscow's new total war is critical because Russia considersitself at war with the West as well as Ukraine, directing some of the tacticsused there against us.Insightful,gripping and at times moving, this book is essential reading for anyone who wantsto understand the unconventional methods Russia and other authoritarian stateswill use to challenge the West for global supremacy and undermine our beliefs, powerand influence.

DrRobert (Bob) Seely is a former soldier, journalist and Member of Parliament. Asa young foreign correspondent, he witnessed the collapse of the Soviet Union.He first warned of a revanchist Russia in the mid-1990s and has researched andwritten about the topic extensively since then. As a British soldier, he servedin Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya and the campaign against ISIS, where he witnessedthe changing nature of war at first hand. As an MP from 2017 to 2024, hecontinued to warn of the growing threat to peace from Russia.DrSeely has long been fascinated by the fusion of different forms of conflict. Hedevoted a decade of academic study to his PhD from King's College London. TheNew Total War is the result of over thirty years of expertise in Russia,Ukraine and modern warfare.