{"id":64350,"date":"2023-02-23T14:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-02-23T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2023\/02\/23\/lessons-congress-has-learned-one-year-into-the-ukraine-war\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T00:50:40","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T00:50:40","slug":"lessons-congress-has-learned-one-year-into-the-ukraine-war","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/commentary\/2023\/02\/23\/lessons-congress-has-learned-one-year-into-the-ukraine-war\/","title":{"rendered":"Lessons Congress has learned one year into the Ukraine war"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

One year ago, Russia invaded Ukraine<\/a>, which began a ground war in Europe not seen at this scale in over 70 years. This simultaneous land, sea and air assault rocked not only Ukraine itself, but the West\u2019s understanding of the global balance of power. The 118th Congress must adjust to this new reality. We learned lessons over the past year; we must not be forced to learn them twice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the future, our strategies must be resilient, not reactive. We must empower our allies and partners, and we must adjust to the realities of the modern battlefield brutally demonstrated in Ukraine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a nation, we have spent decades chasing solutions to already established threats \u2014 from the Cold War to the global war on terrorism. The challenges now facing the United States will punish us for reactionary defense strategies. Our adversaries are technologically advanced with powerful militaries that expand by the day<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Congress must account for the fact that the United States military may be called upon to deal with crises around the world and will inevitably struggle to do so. Beyond Ukraine, for example, Russia has demonstrated ambitions<\/a> to militarize the Arctic<\/a>, fragment the Western alliance and potentially reclaim the territories of the Soviet Union.<\/p>\n\n\n\t