08/17/2026
Ukraine might be having a tough summer, but it doesn’t mean they’re losing the war.
Ukraine had a difficult few weeks: a paused Patriot license, a Starlink restriction, a fired defense minister, and a wave of coverage is reading that as proof Ukraine is losing the war. I use the same tactical/operational/strategic framework every U.S. military officer learns, plus 2,200 years of battlefield history from Cannae to Vietnam, to show why Russia is winning exactly one of those three levels, tactical, and it’s the one that doesn’t decide anything.
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Glory to Ukraine. Glory to the heroes. Crimea is Ukraine.
- Chapters!
- 00:00 – Counting the Wrong Kind of Victory
- 01:29 – Understanding War’s Tactical, Operational, and Strategic Levels
- 02:43 – Cannae: Tactical Mastery, Strategic Failure
- 04:16 – Operation Michael – Operational Brilliance, Strategic Defeat
- 05:59 – Tet Offensive: Tactical Victories, Strategic Disaster
- 07:03 – Russia’s Tactical Gains on the Ukrainian Front
- 07:39 – Russia Wins Tactically, Loses Operationally
- 09:25 – Strategic Defeat: Russia Missed Its War Objectives
- 11:43 – Ukraine’s Expanding Drone Industry and Defense Partnerships
- 13:11 – Signs of Operational Collapse: Criteria to Watch
- 14:14 – Why Tactical Headlines Mislead: Media Bias Toward Visible Battles
- 15:24 – Ancient Misreadings: Rome’s View After Cannae
- 16:56 – Russia’s Grinding Advance and the War’s Futility
- 17:45 – Conclusion and Support for Ukraine