Russo-Ukrainian War
From the 2014 Donbass to the 2022 full-scale invasion: the first peer-level conventional war in Europe since 1945.
Context and course
After Russia's annexation of Crimea and the low-intensity Donbass war (2014–2022), on 24 February 2022 Russia launched the full-scale invasion. It is the first conflict in which a NATO-equipped army (Ukraine) fights a peer adversary using the entire Western catalog in parallel: M4, HK416, Bren 2, SCAR-L, NLAW, Javelin, HIMARS.
Russian forces deploy the AK-12 (latest AK evolution), PKP Pecheneg, SVD/SVDM, Orsis T-5000 precision rifles. In positional warfare, DMRs and trench combat returned to center stage. Armed commercial FPV drones are redefining in real time the concept of 'small fire unit'.
Belligerents
Ukrainian armed forces, backed by NATO with weapons and intelligence
Russian forces, DPR/LPR militias, Wagner / Africa Corps
Iconic weapons of the conflict
- AK-12 / AK-74M
Standard rifles of Russian forces.
- Malyuk / Vepr / Fort
Ukrainian AK family, compact bullpup.
- M4A1, HK416, SCAR-L
Western rifles in Ukrainian hands.
- NLAW, Javelin, FGM-148
Anti-tank missiles that halted the armored advance.
- SVD / SVDM / Orsis T-5000
Russian precision rifles.
- Drone FPV commerciali armati
New paradigm of patrol-level munitions.
In the ARSENALIS catalog (7)
Doctrinal legacy
Brought high-intensity attritional war back to Europe. It showed that well-armed light infantry plus FPV drones plus portable ATGMs can neutralize armored columns, reshaping 21st-century ground doctrine.