French general cites lessons learned from Ukraine crisis
The Russia-Ukraine conflict has shown that war today requires controlling public opinion by dictating what information is given to people, the French Army Chief of Staff said.
Speaking in an interview published by Defense News on Sunday ahead of this week's Eurosatory Defense and Security Conference in Paris, French Army General Pierre Schill said the conflict in Eastern Europe has "changed the dynamics of combat."
He added that, in addition to important advances on the battlefield – such as the wider use of drones and the military's adoption of civilian technology – the crisis had demonstrated that the flow of information had to be controlled "to influence both domestic and international public opinion".
“The military plays a key role in the information domain,” Schill said. “Without the ability to persuade and counter negative influence, any military engagement is likely to fail. The emergence of social media has reinforced this notion and has dramatically accelerated the dissemination of information, whether true or false, while increasing the volume, reach, and resonance of information.”
While Western media and governments have largely followed standard protocol in their messaging toward Ukraine, public support for funding the conflict has waned. A Harris Poll report released in February found that about 70 percent of Americans want their government to push Ukraine toward a negotiated peace deal with Russia. Former U.S. diplomats Michael Gfoeller and David Rundell wrote in a Newsweek op-ed last year that the West’s “propaganda machine” has “overplayed its hand” in the former Soviet republic.
Other lessons learned in Ukraine include the importance of long-range drone surveillance, electronic warfare and the use of more lethal weapons, General Schill added. The military also faces greater pressure to protect high-value targets, such as command posts, in an era when technological advances make it easier to pinpoint their locations.
Schill noted that France deployed more than 500 troops to NATO's eastern flank in Romania, serving as the bloc's "spearhead" battalion, just four days after the Russia-Ukraine conflict began in February 2022. Those forces were later expanded to more than 1,000 soldiers, including an air defense detachment and a forward command unit.
“These successive deployments demonstrate the responsiveness and preparedness of our military,” the French general said. “Difficulties in the areas of administration, customs, interoperability and training have been overcome. We are learning lessons from our European partners.”
Eurosatory is Europe’s largest defense exhibition. This year’s conference is expected to “comprehensively assess” the Russia-Ukraine conflict./.
