Hybrid Wars In 21st Century:Ukrainian View On Russian-Ukrainian Conflict

Since the 1990 s,a number of conflicts and separatist movements have challenged the borders of the states of the former Soviet Union.After the Crimean crisis in 2014,the international relations academic community has significantly increased discussion of the ?hybrid war? concept.There is an ongoing debate among scholars concerning the meaning of the concept,its existence and employment.?Hybrid warfare? is a current word to explain modern warfare,which has blurred the line between conventional warfare and irregular warfare.Cyberwarfare,diplomatic and economic warfare,proxy war,terrorist organizations,organized crime,irregular forces and guerrilla,private military companies,energy-based blackmail,propaganda,internet manipulation and other forms of soft and hard power are blended together.The concept of "hybrid warfare" itself is a dynamic process,this makes the concept of "hybrid war" controversial.It has become evident that there is no common framework on how to identify and form a definition for hybrid warfare,due to the fact that it is a complex concept.This article attempts to take the step in filling the knowledge gap surrounding hybrid warfare,describe the different perspectives on hybrid warfare and how hybrid warfare is labeled in practice,it meanings,methods and models.From the Ukrainian perspective for the Russian-Ukrainian conflict,this article studies the source and driving factors of hybrid war theory.Five years since the Russian-Ukrainian conflict started,Russian hybrid warfare not only threatens sovereignty of Ukraine,but also destabilize the internal political order in Europe.Therefore,it is important to understand military and non-military instruments in the Russian strategy of ?hybrid warfare? against Ukraine,and the search for effective responses for it.Observing the application of Russian hybrid warfare in practice serves the purposes of countering its further potential application in post-Soviet space and Russian ?near abroad‘.The overall idea of this article is to research and analyze the development of modern military art by the transformation and evolution of the conceptual foundations of international security policy on example of Russian-Ukrainian conflict.