Ukraine’s war exposes fatal flaws of 20th-century militaries Digitize or die

When Russian tanks crossed the Ukrainian border in early 2022, it wasn’t just a military invasion — it was a rupture in time. Ukraine found itself fighting a 21st-century war with 20th-century systems. In the trenches, Ukrainian soldiers faced a modern battlefield of drones and satellite-guided weapons. But behind the lines, an older enemy loomed: paperwork, writes Breaking Defense.

Kateryna Chernohorenko, Ukraine’s deputy minister of defense for digital development, knows this battle firsthand. Before the war, she led digital initiatives for civilian services like birth registration and COVID certificates. But when war came, she turned that same digital transformation energy toward one of the most overlooked arenas in modern defense: internal military processes.

“Delays aren’t just inefficiencies — they’re casualties,” she writes in a powerful new op-ed. Her warning is clear: militaries that fail to digitize their core systems — from enlistment to logistics — risk collapse not from the enemy’s firepower, but from their own institutional paralysis.

A new kind of war — and a new kind of mobilization

Ukraine’s armed forces are powered by mass mobilization, not just professional soldiers. That means millions of civilians — from IT engineers to teachers — are legally obligated to serve if called upon. But prior to the invasion, enlistment records were still maintained manually. Citizens queued for hours at under-resourced conscription offices, submitting forms by hand as frontline units waited for reinforcements.

At the war’s onset, this system buckled. One recruitment center could only process a few dozen people daily while hundreds waited outside. Summons were sent to the wrong addresses — or even to the deceased. “We were losing time,” Chernohorenko recalls. “And time in war is oxygen.”

So Ukraine responded not just with weapons, but with code. The Defense Ministry launched Reserve+, a mobile app that lets citizens update their military status, view open positions, and soon, enlist — all without stepping foot in an office. The result? While physical centers processed 728,000 conscripts in two months, Reserve+ handled 3.4 million. It wasn’t just a digital upgrade — it was a fundamental rethinking of national defense.

Digital doctrine: Build systems that scale under fire

For militaries around the world, the lesson is sobering. Western defense budgets may prioritize advanced weapons systems, but behind the curtain, many still rely on paper-based workflows and disconnected databases. Chernohorenko points out a simple but cutting truth: “Legacy systems don’t win future wars — they lose them.”

Ukraine’s military also rolled out Army+, a platform for active-duty personnel to manage transfers, submit reports, and provide real-time feedback. The app effectively gave soldiers a voice in command decisions — an unheard-of cultural shift in a traditionally rigid structure. So far, these platforms have saved more than 70 million administrative hours and over $200 million in economic value, while slashing opportunities for corruption and unofficial “expedited” fees.

In a war of attrition, these efficiencies are more than cosmetic. They are strategic assets.

What NATO and allies can learn — before it’s too late

Ukraine’s transformation wasn’t optional. It was forged under the existential pressure of a full-scale invasion. But Chernohorenko’s message to allies is clear: don’t wait for war to modernize.

“Ask yourself,” she challenges, “can your system register three million conscripts in 60 days? Can your troops request basic services without leaving the battlefield? These aren’t hypotheticals — they’re readiness metrics.”

For countries investing billions into drones and AI, the warning is timely: bureaucratic friction can sabotage even the most advanced warfighting capabilities. The frontline of the next war may run through a server room, not a battlefield.

Ukraine’s defense digitization isn’t just a success story — it’s a siren. Chernohorenko doesn’t offer a tech utopia. She offers a reality check: if digital systems can be built under shellfire, they can be built in peacetime.

In a world defined by speed, the side that optimizes faster wins. Victory won’t just belong to those with the most firepower — but to those who waste the least time.

As Ukraine’s experience shows, modernization isn’t a luxury. It’s the price of survival.

By Aghakazim Guliyev