Russia, China, Iran and other authoritarian states are waging a systemic war of a new era. It is possible to confront this modern war solely by integrated defense.

This was the main idea of Colonel David Kilcullen, Founder and CEO, Cordillera Applications Group (retired Colonel of the Australian Army) of his online speech at the 17th Annual Kyiv Security Forum “UA: LET'S UNITE AGAIN TO DEFEAT THE GLOBAL AGGRESSOR”, organized by the Arseniy Yatsenyuk Foundation “Open Ukraine”.

“This is a complex, combined battle, when hundreds of various tools are used simultaneously: ranging from disinformation to financial attacks. The objective is to intimidate and petrify the target country by shockwaves of threats to overcome totally its resistance,” he explained.

In his opinion, such tactics have been used in many conflicts, including in Mali and Syria, and now in Ukraine. David Kilcullen emphasized that responding to each individual step taken by the adversary is futile; a united, coordinated strategy of resistance is called for.

“In the first days of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russia tried to use this effect - acting quickly and unpredictably. But they failed as they did not have clear strategic planning,” the expert recalled.

He also noted that one of the key concepts of future defense capabilities should be “cognitive resilience” – society’s ability to withstand and oppose the foe’s attempts at information and psychological levels.

“We do not need to respond to each attack separately. We need to coordinate our efforts and build-up a systemic response - not disparate projects, but an integrated deterrence system,” the expert concluded.

The Kyiv Security Forum, organized by the Arseniy Yatsenyuk’s Open Ukraine Foundation, is the main platform in this country to discuss issues of war and peace, national and global security.